Fish Assemblage Structures in Intertidal and Subtidal Seagrass Habitats in Trang Province, Southern Thailand
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Abstract
As a first step to clarify the functions of intertidal seagrass habitats in a coastal ecosystem, for which information is still scarce to date, we investigated fish assemblage structures in these habitats during the daytime at Trang, Thailand, in March, June, September 2017 and December 2018, and compared them with those in nearby subtidal seagrass habitats as well as adjacent sand/mud flats. Both intertidal and subtidal seagrass habitats as well as intertidal sand/mud flats, supported fish assemblages with high species diversity, with total species numbers ranging from 36 to 41 in the former, and from 35 to 55 in the the latter. On the other hand, species diversity in subtidal open sand/mud flats was relatively lower, with a total species numbers of 21. Total fish abundances showed similar patterns in both intertidal and subtidal seagrass habitats. Dominant species such as Siganus canaliculatus, Petroscirtes variabilis and Monacanthus chinensis were common in these habitats. In sand/mud flats, Acanthosphex leurynnis, Siganus canaliculatus and Sillago sihama were dominant species. The similarity in fish assemblages between subtidal and intertidal seagrass habitats may be due to prey abundance patterns, while other factors could also influence fish assemblage structures in sand/mud flats. These findings suggest that both intertidal seagrass and open sand/mud flats are habitats with high fish diversity and abundances and should be considered in the establishment of management programs for coastal ecosystems.
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