Abstract

In order to fully understand changes in reef fish populations, it is imperative that entire life processes of reef fishes are considered. The majority of coral reef fishes exhibit a biphasic life history, occupying pelagic waters as larval plankton before undergoing a critical transition to the benthic, reef-associated environment, defined as settlement (Leis 1991). Settlement of reef fishes is complex and highly variable across different temporal and spatial scales, and understanding this critical process can provide valuable insight into factors ultimately determining local population size (Jones 1991). This study is the first to investigate patterns of reef fish settlement in Eleuthera, The Bahamas, so as to help identify important spatial and temporal factors contributing to the supply of reef fish larvae to the reef fish populations of Eleuthera. Monitoring of reef fish settlement was carried out using benthic standard monitoring units for the recruitment of fishes (SMURFs) (Valles et al. 2006), a sampling tool that helps circumvent some of the challenges associated with monitoring recently settled fishes, given that settlement occurs predominantly at night and many taxa are too small, hidden or cryptic to be detected during this transitional stage.

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