102 



Abstract — Fish assemblages were 

 investigated in tidal-creek and sea- 

 grass habitats in the Suwannee River 

 estuary, Florida. A total of 91.571 

 fish representing 43 families were 

 collected in monthly seine samples 

 from January 1997 to December 

 1999. Tidal creeks supported greater 

 densities of fish (3.89 fish/m-; 83% 

 of total) than did seagrass habitats 

 (0.93 fish/m- 1. We identified three 

 distinct fish assemblages in each 

 habitat: winter-spring, summer, and 

 fall. Pinfish iLagodon rhomboides), 

 pigfish iOrthopristis chrysoptera I, and 

 syngnathids characterized seagrass 

 assemblages, whereas spot fLeiosto- 

 rnus xanthurus), bay anchovy (Anchoa 

 mitchiUi), silversides (Menidia spp.), 

 mojarras iEucinostornus spp.), and 

 fundulids characterized tidal-creek 

 habitats. Important recreational and 

 commercial species such as striped 

 mullet (Mugil cephahis) and red drum 

 (Sciaeiiops ocellatus) were found 

 primarily in tidal creeks and were 

 among the top 13 taxa in the fish 

 assemblages found in the tidal-creek 

 habitats. Tidal-creek and seagrass 

 habitats in the Suwannee River estu- 

 ary were found to support diverse fish 

 assemblages. Seasonal patterns in 

 occurrence, which were found to be 

 associated with recruitment of early- 

 life-history stages, were observed for 

 many of the fish species. 



Fish assemblages found in tidal-creek and 

 seagrass habitats in the Suwannee River estuary 



Troy D. Tuckey 



Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 



Flonda Wildlife Research Institute 



Apalachicola Field Laboratory 



East Point, Florida 32328 



Present address: School of Marine Science 



Virginia Institute of Marine Science 



College of William and Mary 



PO. Box 1346, Route 1208 Create Road 



Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062 

 E-mail address, tuckeytg'vims edu 



Mark Dehaven 



Department of Agnculture and Consumer Services 

 Division of Aquaculture 

 11350 SW 153^'^ Ct 

 Cedar Key Florida 32625 



Manuscript submitted 20 July 2004 

 to the Scientific Editor's Office. 



Manuscript approved for publication 

 19 July 2005 by the Scientific Editor. 



Fish. Bull. 104:102-117 12006). 



The Suwannee River estuary, located 

 on the gulf coast of Florida, is rela- 

 tively pristine and supports commer- 

 cial and recreational fisheries. It is an 

 unusual estuary, with an orientation 

 along the open coastal shoreline, and 

 its habitats include oyster bars, mud- 

 flats, seagrasses, tidal creeks, and 

 an extensive salt marsh (Comp and 

 Seaman, 1985). In other estuaries of 

 the United States, fish assemblages, 

 species abundance, and habitat asso- 

 ciations within estuaries have been 

 studied extensively. Particular atten- 

 tion has focused on estuaries as nurs- 

 ery habitats for young-of-the-year 

 (YOY) fishes that use seagrasses, 

 tidal-creeks, and marshes during their 

 early-life stages (Shenker and Dean, 

 1979; Bozeman and Dean, 1980; Liv- 

 ingston, 1984; Cowan and Birdsong, 

 1985; Gilmore, 1988; McGovern and 

 Wenner, 1990; Baltz et al., 1993; 

 Peterson and Turner, 1994; Rooker 

 et al., 1998). In addition, comparisons 

 between different habitats within estu- 

 arine systems have been conducted to 

 evaluate the value of each habitat as a 

 nursery (Weinstein and Brooks, 1983; 

 Sogard and Able, 1991; Rozas and 

 Minello, 1998; Paperno et al., 2001). 

 Aside from basic species-composition 

 studies of marsh fishes (Kilby, 1955; 

 Nordlie, 2000) and fishes that inhabit 



shallow waters near Cedar Key (Reid, 

 1954), only one recent study (Tsou 

 and Matheson, 2002) has investigated 

 the distribution patterns of fishes in 

 the Suwannee River estuary. Tsou 

 and Matheson (2002) found that the 

 nekton community structure for the 

 Suwannee River estuary had a strong 

 seasonal pattern that was consistent 

 among years and followed patterns 

 for water temperature and river dis- 

 charge. They found assemblages that 

 were associated with warm and cold 

 seasons, and wet and dry seasons, 

 but they did not examine habitat spe- 

 cific assemblages (Tsou and Matheson, 

 2002). For proper management of fish- 

 ery resources, it is beneficial to have 

 detailed, current information concern- 

 ing the status of all life-history stages 

 and associated habitats of species that 

 reside in the area, as well as informa- 

 tion concerning species interactions 

 and associated food webs. Although 

 human development in the Suwannee 

 River estuary is not a current threat, 

 the potential withdrawal of freshwater 

 from the Suwannee River for human 

 consumption is a possibility and could 

 impact fish assemblages found in the 

 estuary (Tsou and Matheson, 2002). 



This article describes habitat-spe- 

 cific assemblages by examining the 

 fish fauna collected in seagrass habi- 



