MAJOR: ASPECTS OF ECOLOGY OF STRIPED MULLET 



It is interesting to note that the environmental 

 conditions and the behavior of prejuveniles and 

 juvenile striped mullet in Hawaii appear to be 

 very similar in many instances to those of various 

 species of western U.S. desert pupfish, Cyprinodon 

 (Barlow 1958, 1961; Kinne 1960; Lowe and Heath 

 1969; Brown and Feldmeth 1971; Deacon and 

 Minckley 1974), and to the African cichlid, Tilapia 

 grahami (Coe 1966). Daily and seasonal changes 

 in water temperature and possibly salinity (ionic) 

 regimes in the low tide, tide pools in Hawaii and 

 desert springs and pools appear very similar. The 

 pupfish and T. grahami young live in the shal- 

 lowest, hottest water often at near lethal tempera- 

 tures. Adults, generally, did not occur in these 

 areas at the same time as the young. Feeding 

 appeared to be continuous and was directed at the 

 substrate, as it was in mullet <50 mm SL. The 

 shape, size, and length of the pupfish and T. 

 grahami also appear to be very similar to those of 

 the small mullet. 



The changes occurring in the behavior and dis- 

 tribution of mullet prejuveniles transforming to 

 juveniles is also very similar to the changes occur- 

 ring in prejuvenile and juveniles opaleye, Girella, 

 nigricans, in the intertidal areas along southern 

 California and Baja California, Mexico (Norris 

 1963). 



The ability of certain life history stages of these 

 diverse species of fishes to tolerate fluctuating 

 conditions and/or near lethal thermal and ionic 

 (salinity) regimes in shallow water possibly indi- 

 cates convergence of adaptations to similar envi- 

 ronments. The physiological adaptations may be 

 mediated biochemically (hormonally) and may be 

 a result of the interaction of both endogenous and 

 exogenous factors or cues. The evolutionary driv- 

 ing or selection forces operating appear to include 

 predation and at least intraspecific competition for 

 food and space. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I thank G. W. Barlow, A. R. Moldenke, W. H. 

 Neill, Jr., K. S. Norris, J. S. Pearse, M. Silver, and 

 anonymous reviewers for editorial advice. Craig 

 Emberson, Kenneth Dormer, Diane Henderson, 

 Ching-Ming Kuo, George Lauder, William Mad- 

 den, Elaine Major, and Robert Shallenberger pro- 

 vided assistance during parts of the study. The 

 figures were prepared by Doris Heinsohn (UCSC), 

 and the Audio- Visual Graphics staff at Simon 

 Eraser University, Canada. The experiments were 



conducted under NSF Grant No. GA 28195 to K. S. 

 Norris and, subsequently, C. E. Nash, past and 

 present Research Director, respectively. Oceanic 

 Institute (Oceanic Foundation), Makapuu, 

 Hawaii. 



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