Abstract
Nurseryfish are unique among fishes in that the males carry the fertilized eggs on a supraoccipital hook on their head. In an attempt to learn where, when, and at what salinities spawning occurs, an ichthyoplankton net was towed at 14 stations in the Adelaide River from the mouth (38 ppt) to the most upstream sections of the river (0.1 ppt). Larval nurseryfish (5–27.5 mm SL) were collected, preserved and measured, and water chemistry parameters were recorded with each sample. Larvae were found in the mid-reaches of the river during July–October, most commonly at salinities between 13.6–0.5 ppt. Salinities increased as the dry season progressed. Larvae were not taken at salinities higher than 19 ppt, nor did they occur in the upper-most reaches of the river system during this time of the dry season. What nurseryfish do and where they occur during the massive influx of freshwater runoff during the wet season (November–April) remains a mystery. Electrofishing for nurseryfish proved to be ineffective in the Adelaide River due to its extraordinary turbidity which made recovery of stunned fish difficult and fresh material of males carrying eggs remains elusive. Two historic photographs showing males carrying eggs are described.
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Acknowledgements
This work would not have been possible without the physical and logistical support of the Fisheries Research Staff of the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries. We thank Thor Saunders and Mark Grubert for making this cooperation possible and Quentin Allsop, Nathan Crofts, Graham Schultz, Dave Wilson, Chris Errity, Sean Fitzpatrick, Brandon Cardona, Jeremy Rioli, and Kurtly Harvey for their skill in the field. Charles Darwin University and the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory also provided valuable support. Michael Hammer kindly photographed Fig. 2 and commented on an early version of the manuscript as did Alison King. Masato Ikeda graciously supplied the original photo in Fig. 4 after Bill Boustead called our attention to it. We appreciate the willingness to help locate the photo of the male with eggs exhibited by Kent Hortle, Patricia Kailola, Andrew Sanger, and Will White. The spatial expertise of Ian Leiper of CDU who constructed the map (Fig. 1) is greatly appreciated. Field work was carried out with Northern Territory Fisheries Permit No.2015-2016/S17/3381, and the specimens have been deposited in the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory fish collection under receipt number: R2016/001. All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of Charles Darwin University under Ethics Committee Permit A16021. This work was partially funded by a small grant from OSU’s Emeritus Academy.
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Berra, T.M., Wedd, D. Salinity and spawning of nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri, in the Adelaide River of northern Australia with notes on electrofishing and photos of a male carrying eggs. Environ Biol Fish 100, 959–967 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-017-0620-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-017-0620-3