failed completely to attract juveniles (Moffitt et 

 al. 1989). Although there is little evidence that 

 juveniles avoid such high relief features, there is 

 no evidence of positive association. The limited 

 gut samples from our juveniles did not indicate 

 any material endemic to hard substrate (e.g., 

 coral; obligate, hard bottom-associated inverte- 

 brates). Association with structural relief or 

 even wath adult bottom fish may put juveniles at 

 risk (Johannes 1978). For example, predators 

 may routinely visit high structural features. 

 Thus, juveniles may pass their early settled hfe 

 on flat, soft, featureless bottoms. The use of 

 special habitats by prerecruits to avoid competi- 

 tion and possible predation has been observed in 

 both temperate (Carlson and Haight 1976) and 

 tropical fishes (Shapiro 1987). Juvenile lutjanids 

 may also occur on hard, flat bottoms with some 

 limited degree of relief. No fishing on such bot- 

 toms was attempted, and e.xtensive sampling ef- 

 fort would be required to eliminate the possibil- 

 ity that such habitat is used. 



This brief, preliminary investigation has 

 demonstrated only the presence of juveniles of 

 recreationally and commercially important 

 lutjanids in habitat relatively close to the fishing 

 gi'ounds for adults, but not where adults con- 

 gregate. The boundaries of that habitat and the 

 characteristics that make it attractive to juve- 

 niles remain to be defined. Some basic attri- 

 butes, such as depth, temperature, substrate, 

 and the general nature of bottom relief, are rela- 

 tively easy to measure and describe for large 

 areas. Characterization of the habitats used by 

 juvenile lutjanids will improve the ability to 

 assess and manage productive substrate. Ichthy- 

 oplankton sampling has yielded relatively few 

 specimens of larval lutjanids (Collins et al. 1980; 

 Leis 1987), and the value of that approach for 

 assessing adult stocks seems limited. A focused 

 progi'am of sampHng and monitoring the juvenile 

 population and estimating the available habitat 

 suitable for them may provide more effective 

 indicators of potential recruitment and indicate 

 the prospects for future adult stocks. 



Acknowledgments 



Logistical support was provided by the Hawaii 

 Institute of Marine Biology, University of 

 Hawaii. Identification of fish gastrointestinal 

 contents was made by Wayne R. Haight of the 

 Hawaii Cooperative Fishery Research Unit. 

 Thanks are due to Deborah A. Goebert and 

 James D. Parrish for needed support in diving 



operations. Greatly appreciated are the efforts 

 and advice of Thomas K. Kazama, Donald 

 Kobayashi, Kevin C. Landgi-af, Robert B. Mof- 

 fitt, and JefferyJ. Polovina. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Carlson, H. R., and R. E. Haight. 



1976. Juvenile life of Pacific ocean perch, Sehastes 

 alutus, in coastal fiords of southeastern Alaska: Their 

 environment, growth, food habits, and schooling be- 

 havior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soe. 105:191-201. 

 Collins, L. A., J. H. Finucane, and L. E. Barger. 



1980. Description of larval and juvenile red snapper, 



Lutjarms campechanus. Fish. Bull., U.S. 77:965- 



974. 



Coulbourn, W. T., J. F. Campbell, P. N. Anderson, P. M. 



Daugherty, V. A. Greenberg, S. K. Izuka, R. A. 



Lauritzen, B. O. Tsutsui, and C. Yan. 



1988. Sand deposits offshore Oahu, Hawaii. Pac. Sci. 

 42:267-299 + app. 2 p. 

 Humphreys, R. L., Jr. 



1986. Lutjanidae, opakapaka. /» R. N. Uchidaand J. 

 H. Uchiyama (editors), Fishery atlas of the North- 

 western Hawaiian Islands, p. 112-113. NOAA Tech. 

 Rep. NMFS 38. 



Johannes, R. E. 



1978. Reproductive strategies of coastal marine fishes 

 in the tropics. Environ. Biol. Fishes 3:65-84. 

 Kami, H. T. 



1973. The Pristipomoides {Pisces: Lutjanidae) of 

 Guam with notes on their biology. Micronesica 9:97- 

 117. 

 Leis, J. M. 



1987. Review of the early life history of tropical 

 groupers (Serranidae) and snappers (Lutjanidae). hi 

 J. J. Polovina and S. Ralston (editors), Tropical 

 snappers and groupers: Biology and fisheries manage- 

 ment, p. 189-237. West view Press, Inc., Boulder 

 and London. 



Moffitt, R. B., F. A. Parrish, and J. J. Polovina. 



In press. Community structure, biomass and produc- 

 tivity of deepwater artificial reefs in Hawaii. Bull. 

 Mar. Sci. 



Munro, J. L. 



1987. Workshop synthesis and directions for future 

 research. In J. J. Polovina and S. Ralston (editors), 

 Tropical snappers and gi'oupers: Biology and fisheries 

 management, p. 639-659. Westview Press, Inc., 

 Boulder and London. 



Parrish, J. D. 



1987. The trophic biology of snappers and groupers. 

 In J. J. Polovina and S. Ralston (editors). Tropical 

 snappers and groupers: Biologj' and fisheries manage- 

 ment, p. 405-463. Westview Press, Inc., Boulder 

 and London. 



Ralston, S. 



1980. An analysis of the Hawaiian offshore handline 

 fishery: A progress report. In R. W. Grigg and R. 

 T. Pfund (editors). Proceedings of the Symposium on 

 Status of Resource Investigations in the Northwest- 

 ern Hawaiian Islands, April 24-25, 1980, p. 204- 

 215. Univ. Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, UNIHI- 

 SEAGRANT-MR-80-04. 



1004 



