Abstract

Artificial reefs along the Texas coast bring millions of dollars in revenue every year through sport fishing and SCUBA diving, and they have been promoted as a means to enhance fish stocks. In 2011 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department deployed 4,000 concrete culverts seven miles off the coast of Port Mansfield, TX. These concrete culverts can serve as habitat for highly desired sport fish species in the Gulf of Mexico. Because the means of fish recruitment to artificial reefs is unclear and may be attributed to direct settlement or movement of larger individuals to the reef sites, the aim of this study was to assess juvenile fish recruitment at particular culvert reef configurations and compare them with observed adult fish populations. Standard monitoring units for measuring the recruitment of fishes (SMURF) were used in this study. Eighteen artificial coral SMURFs enclosed in anti-predator cages were deployed at nine sites in the artificial reef grid. The structures were placed in discrete habitat types of clumped, patchy, and bare areas. Because epi-faunal community development on an artificial reef varies seasonally, the SMURFs were sampled bi-monthly. Analysis of fish recruitment differences at each site was conducted, and juvenile recruits were quantified by size class to the lowest taxonomic level. The use of SMURFs to characterize fish recruitment at the clumped, patchy, and bare areas at this artificial reef is useful to determine its function as an attraction device for larger fish or as habitat for fish settlement

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