Nets and Noise: Using Fisheries Independent Monitoring and Passive Acoustic Surveys to Examine Connectivity Between Sciaenid Spawning and Juvenile Habitats

Connectivity between larval and adult phases has largely focused on demersal teleost fishes and how movement occurs over long distances. Although smaller in scale, spatial partitioning of maturity stages in estuarine fish is important in linking ontogenetic habitat transitions with potential strategies for maximizing fitness. Three estuarine sciaenids, spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulous), sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius), and silver perch (Bairdiella chrysoura) share similar seasonal and diel spawning periodicities in Tampa Bay, Florida. Two independent surveys over two years used random stratified survey designs to locate adult spawning habitat with passive acoustics and juvenile nursery habitat with seine and trawl nets. While adult spotted seatrout and sand seatrout used distinctly different areas to spawn, silver perch were equally distributed amongst all sampled areas. Juvenile habitat varied between species as well. Spotted seatrout juveniles were collected in shallow seagrass areas similar to the adult spawning habitat but sand seatrout juveniles were located approximately four to five miles away from the deep sand bottom adult spawning areas, typically concentrated in one of three major rivers feeding the bay. Sharing the ubiquitous geography trait of the adults, silver perch juveniles were found throughout shoreline areas of the entire bay.