{"title":"Trends and distribution of hardhead catfish in Texas estuaries—shifting relative abundance of a highly ubiquitous generalist predator","authors":"Zachary Olsen, Jeremy McCulloch","doi":"10.1007/s10641-024-01596-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Hardhead catfish (<i>Ariopsis felis</i>) are one of two Ariidae catfishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico and are one of the most common fishes found in the coastal waters in this region. As a generalist consumer with a unique reproductive life history and limited information on long-term population dynamics in the Western Gulf of Mexico, the objectives of this study were to assess trends in Texas estuaries using long-term fishery independent and dependent data sets and to conduct habitat suitability analyses in these same estuaries for both young-of-the-year and adult hardhead catfish. Some estuaries have experienced decreasing trends in catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of adult hardhead catfish beginning in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, and widespread decreasing trends in adult mean length were additionally observed for central and lower coast estuaries. Compared to the CPUE of finfish in the larger community, adult hardhead catfish largely exhibited decreasing trends in their relative contribution (expressed as percentage of CPUE) across most Texas estuaries. When combined with the larger Ariidae species grouping, and compared to the relative contribution of common Sciaenids, it was generally observed that the contributions of these two species groupings were converging for many estuaries. This was primarily characterized by increasing Ariidae trends. Given the trophic role of Ariidae catfishes, they clearly have the potential to exert major trophic influence on estuarine food webs. Our study highlights the value of long-term monitoring and the study of non-gamefish species in the larger assessment of community change across time.</p>","PeriodicalId":11799,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Biology of Fishes","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Biology of Fishes","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01596-1","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Hardhead catfish (Ariopsis felis) are one of two Ariidae catfishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico and are one of the most common fishes found in the coastal waters in this region. As a generalist consumer with a unique reproductive life history and limited information on long-term population dynamics in the Western Gulf of Mexico, the objectives of this study were to assess trends in Texas estuaries using long-term fishery independent and dependent data sets and to conduct habitat suitability analyses in these same estuaries for both young-of-the-year and adult hardhead catfish. Some estuaries have experienced decreasing trends in catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of adult hardhead catfish beginning in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, and widespread decreasing trends in adult mean length were additionally observed for central and lower coast estuaries. Compared to the CPUE of finfish in the larger community, adult hardhead catfish largely exhibited decreasing trends in their relative contribution (expressed as percentage of CPUE) across most Texas estuaries. When combined with the larger Ariidae species grouping, and compared to the relative contribution of common Sciaenids, it was generally observed that the contributions of these two species groupings were converging for many estuaries. This was primarily characterized by increasing Ariidae trends. Given the trophic role of Ariidae catfishes, they clearly have the potential to exert major trophic influence on estuarine food webs. Our study highlights the value of long-term monitoring and the study of non-gamefish species in the larger assessment of community change across time.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Biology of Fishes is an international journal that publishes original studies on the ecology, life history, epigenetics, behavior, physiology, morphology, systematics and evolution of marine and freshwater fishes. Empirical and theoretical papers are published that deal with the relationship between fishes and their external and internal environment, whether natural or unnatural. The journal concentrates on papers that advance the scholarly understanding of life and draw on a variety of disciplines in reaching this understanding.
Environmental Biology of Fishes publishes original papers, review papers, brief communications, editorials, book reviews and special issues. Descriptions and submission requirements of these article types can be found in the Instructions for Authors.