Movement patterns, site fidelity, and habitat use of California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) in a marine life reserve at Santa Catalina Island, California.

摘要

The California sheephead, Semicossyphus pulcher (Labridae), is a carnivorous, temperate, rocky-reef/kelp-bed fish that is highly sought in recreational and commercial fisheries. In addition to traditional bag and size limits recently imposed to manage the fishery, it is possible that no-take marine reserves would be an effective management strategy that could protect and increase stocks; however, first it is necessary to determine this species' space use, movement patterns, and fidelity to an area. In this study, fine-scale acoustic telemetry tracking was used in conjunction with long-term acoustic monitoring as a unique method to ascertain the stability of defined home ranges over time. Sixteen adult S. pulcher (26 to 40 cm SL) were surgically fitted with small acoustic transmitters and manually tracked for up to 144 h during multiple, 24-h periods within the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Reserve (CMLR). A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to calculate home range sizes (95% Kernel Utilization Distributions) and habitat use. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)