The Ichthyoplankton of Selected Estuaries in Sarawak and Sabah: Composition, Distribution and Habitat Affinities

The ichthyoplankton assemblages of 23 estuaries in Sarawak and Sabah were surveyed with particular reference to the culturally and commercially important clupeidTenualosa toli. The species composition, distribution and density of all fish larvae were recorded, together with the physical characterist...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estuarine, coastal and shelf science coastal and shelf science, 1997-08, Vol.45 (2), p.197-208
Main Authors: Blaber, S.J.M., Farmer, M.J., Milton, D.A., Pang, J., Boon-Teck, O., Wong, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Brackish
distribution
estuaries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
habitat affinities
ichthyoplankton
Sea water ecosystems
Synecology
Tenualosa toli
tropical
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The ichthyoplankton assemblages of 23 estuaries in Sarawak and Sabah were surveyed with particular reference to the culturally and commercially important clupeidTenualosa toli. The species composition, distribution and density of all fish larvae were recorded, together with the physical characteristics of each estuary. A more detailed study was made of the Lupar and Lassa estuaries, which are the ‘core area’ forT. toli. The estuaries fall into two groups. The first consists of the estuaries of the ‘core area’ from the Sebako in the west to the Lassa in the east, and the Labuk and Kinabatangan estuaries of eastern Sabah. They are large and deep, have middle-range salinities with no halocline, are highly turbid and have tidal ranges of >3·5m and strong currents. There is little seasonal change in freshwater input and their waters are not peat-stained. Their total zooplankton biomasses (approximately 0·05gm−3dry weight, excluding fish larvae) are an order of magnitude greater than biomasses in the second group of estuaries. The second group consists of all estuaries east of the Lassa as far as the Papar in Sabah. They are mostly smaller, shallower and have more variable salinities than the ‘core area’ estuaries, with marked haloclines and seasonal changes in freshwater inflow, lower turbidities, weaker currents, tidal ranges of
ISSN:0272-7714
1096-0015
DOI:10.1006/ecss.1996.0174