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Effects of a Natural Fish Kill on the Water Quality, Plankton, and Fish Population of a Pond in the Big Cypress Swamp, Florida
Author(s) -
Kushlan James A.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1974)103<235:eoanfk>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - gambusia , lepomis , biology , fish kill , population , fishery , swamp , ecology , poecilia , poeciliidae , ictalurus , water quality , phytoplankton , fish <actinopterygii> , catfish , algal bloom , demography , sociology , nutrient
A naturally occurring fish kill took place during the southern Florida dry season when receding water levels forced aquatic organisms out of shallow swamps and into a small pond. Physico‐chemical parameters of water quality varied greatly from their usual range as did the abundance of phytoplankton which reached a peak of 2.5 X 10 9 cells per liter. The fish kill had no effect on the long‐term limnological characteristics of the pond, as water quality returned to normal range within 2 months and phytoplankton disappeared within 1 month after the fish kill. The species of fish in the pond showed a range of susceptibility to low oxygen concentration and other aspects of the fish kill. They were classified into three categories based upon their survival: Notemigonus crysoleucas, Lucania goodei, and all centrarchids were eliminated rapidly; Fundulus chrysotus, Poecilia latipinna, Heterandria formosa, and Ictalurus natalis were either eliminated late in the fish kill or survived in numbers lower than measurable by methods used in this study; Lepisosteus platyrhincus, Gambusia affinis, Jordanella floridae and the prawn Palaemonetes paludosus survived the fish kill in moderate densities of 0.6 to 6 individuals/m 2 In three species of Lepomis, larger fish died before smaller ones. Six of 22 species of fish and only 0.6% of the previous fish population survived the fish kill.