Population ecology of a Bahamian suprabenthic shore fish assemblage. American Museum novitates ; no. 2528

Supplemental Materials

Date

1973

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History

DOI

DOI

Abstract

"The fishes living within 6 meters of the bottom around natural and artificial reefs on the outer shelf of the Great Bahama Bank were censused repeatedly during six observation periods of three to seven days each between March, 1970, and June, 1971. Counts were made through a closed-circuit television (UTV) with the camera permanently mounted on the sea floor in water 17 meters deep. The television caused no disturbance to the fishes that hover in the water column and are too wary to be approached by divers. Sixty-six species were observed in a cylinder of water approximately 20 meters in diameter and 6 meters high. Thirty-three of the observed species were truly suprabenthic nomadic species; the rest were either benthic forms that used the lower part of the water column or midwater species that ocasionally fed near the bottom. The suprabenthic species are classified according to feeding specializations and an attempt is made to examine the interactions and flow of energy and information within the comunity. Some mechanisms for maintaining the homeostasis of the community are postulated"--P. [1].

Description

38 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-38).

Keywords

Citation