Abstract

The popularity of low profile reefs as fishing banks prompted the State of Mississippi to develop Dew artificial reefs and to augment existing oyster shell reefs. The creation of artificial fishing reefs from concrete rubble, crushed limestone, and oyster shells in Mississippi coastal waters provided an opportunity to obtain information on the colonization and utilization of these different substrates by benthic fauna. In this study, vertebrate Colonization was compared between two substrate types, crushed limestone gravel and oyster shell. Colonization was determined by placing trays containing the reef material on an existing shell/gravel reef approximately 300 meters from shore in ceDtral Mississippi Sound. Every three months the trays were returned to the laboratory and all organisms were removed and identified to the lowest taxonomic level. Fish were measured to the nearest 0.1 mm totallength and weighed to the nearest 0.01 g. Fish colonizing the reefs included members of the following families: Gobiidae (Gobiosoma hose), Blenniidae (Hysobknnius ionthas), Gobiesocidae (Gobiesox strumosus), Ophichthidae (Myrophis punctatus), and Batrachoididae (Opsanus beta). The structural complexity of the reef appears to control populatiOn size structure and density. Differences in species composition and size may be related to the availability and size of "niches" provided by the oyster shell and limestone gravel. Although species composition between the two substrates was similar, significantly larger animals colonized the oyster shell than the crushed limestone gravel. Oyster shells provided fewer, but much larger niches than those found in crushed limestone gravel.

PDF Preview