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Movement of three stream‐resident balitoroid loaches and a goby in a Hong Kong hillstream
Author(s) -
Ho Bill S.K.,
Dudgeon David
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ecology of freshwater fish
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1600-0633
pISSN - 0906-6691
DOI - 10.1111/eff.12240
Subject(s) - goby , biology , benthic zone , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , zoology , geography
We undertook a mark–recapture study of three pool‐dwelling balitoroid loaches and a nonmigratory goby in a Hong Kong hillstream, which extended over a 35‐week period. The target species were Pseudogastromyzon myersi and Liniparhomaloptera disparis (Balitoridae), Schistura fasciolata (Nemacheilidae) and Rhinogobius duospilus (Gobiidae). Recapture rates of tagged individuals were high (58% overall), especially for the abundant R. duospilus (70% of 412 tagged) and P . myersi (57% of 762 tagged). At the end of the study, most recaptured individuals (78% of gobies , 62% of P. myersi , 42% of L. disparis and 67% of S. fasciolata ) were within the pools where they had been released. Of those that had moved elsewhere, maximum displacements ranged from 46 m ( R. duospilus ) to 101 m ( P. myersi ), giving rise to a strongly leptokurtic distribution of movement distances. Mean displacements after 35 weeks ranged from only 2.9 m ( R. duospilus ) to 10.0 m ( L. disparis ). The sedentary behaviour of these species was more marked than most other small benthic fishes, although our study excluded the breeding period and wet season when high flows might have stimulated movement. Among the mobile P. myersi individuals, most travelled upstream, whereas mobile gobies tended to move downstream. Juveniles of P. myersi and R. duospilus , as well as large adult P. myersi , were especially sedentary, while mobile adult P. myersi that travelled further showed smaller growth increments. The highly sedentary habits of all four fishes suggest that they may exert persistent local top‐down control of benthic communities within pools in Hong Kong streams.