Abstract
Trawl samples of demersal fish populations within the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica were conducted during February and July, 1979 and April, 1980 in an attempt to define basic abundance, diversity and distributional patterns. Seventeen day and three night samples produced 6,441 fishes of 107 species during the February cruise. Twenty day and two night samples produced 9,220 individuals of 131 species during the July cruise. Twenty day samples produced 14,151 individuals representing 125 species taken during the April cruise. A total of 214 species were collected during this study.
The Gulf of Nicoya may be divided into three zones on the basis of the physical characteristics of the stations (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, depth and distance from the mouth of the Gulf). Few changes in the position of these zones occurred during the study period, indicating a relatively stableestuarine configuration from a biological perspective, under the influence of a wet and a dry season. No significant seasonal changes in the number, biomass, percent occurrence, diversity of partitioning by size class of fishes were observed.
Two major types of fish distributional patterns were observed. Several species were ubiquitous and were found throughout the Gulf in varying abundances. Other species were restricted to either the upper or lower Gulf. Dominant groups in the upper Gulf include the sciaenids, sea catfishes (Ariidae) and flatfishes (Soleidae, Cynoglossidae and Syacium ovale). These fishes tend to inhabit the warmer, shallower, less saline waters of the upper Gulf. Flounders (Bothidae), gobies (Bollmannia spp.), morays and congers (Hildebrandia nitens, Priodonophus equatorialis and Muraenesox coniceps) and several other species dominated the deeper, cooler, more saline lower Gulf.
References
Bartels, C.E. 1981. Occurrence, distribution, abundance, and diversity of fishes in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. University of Delaware. M.S. Thesis, 120 p.
Blutstein, H.I., L.C. Anderson, E.C. Betters, J.H. Dombrowski, & C. Townsend. 1970. Area handbook for Costa Rica. U.S. Gov. Printing Office 323 p.
Brittan, M. 1966. A small collection of the shore fishes from the west coast of Costa Rica. Ichthyologia, 37: 121-134.
Bussing, W.A. 1969. Familias de peces marinos costarricenses y de aguas contiguas. Ser. Cienc. Nat. No. 6, San José, Costa Rica. 39 p.
Caín, R.L., & J.M. Dean. 1976. Annual occurrence, abundance and diversity of fish in a South Carolina intertidal creek. Mar. Biol., 36: 369-379.
Conover, W.J. 1971. Practical non-parametric statistics. Wiley. New York. 461 p.
Dahlberg, N., & E.P. Odum. 1970. Annual cycles of species occurrence, abundance and diversity in Georgia estuarine fish populations. Amer. Midl. Nat. 83: 382-392.
Epifanio, C.E., D. Maurer, & A.I. Dittel. 1982. Seasonal changes in nutrients and dissolved oxygen in the Gulf of Nicoya, a tropical estuary on the Pacific coast of Central America. Hydrobiologica (in press).
Erdman, D.S. 1971. Notes on fishes from the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop., 19: 59-71.
Fuertes, J. R. & H. Araya. 1979. Campaña de prospección pesquera en la plataforma continental del Pacífico de Costa Rica (noviembre 1977, enero 1978). Inf. Técn. Int. Inv. Pesq., Barcelona 69: 1-31.
Leon, P.E. 1973. Ecología de la ictiofauna del Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica, un estuario tropical. Rev. Biol. Trop., 21: 5-30.
Lloyd, M., & R.J. Ghelardi. 1964. A table for calculating the "equitability" component of species diversity. J. Anim. Ecol., 33: 217-225.
Madrigal, E. 1979. Algunos peces de importancia comercial del litoral pacífico costarricense, Publico Biol. Marina Pesquera, Min. Agríc. y Ganadería de Costa Rica No. 3, 27 p. (mimeogr.).
Maurer, D., C.E. Epifanio, LA. Vargas, A.I. Dittel, M.M. Murillo, H.K. Dean, & S.R. Howe. 1982. Megabenthic invertebrates of a tropical estuary: Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Hydrobiologia (in press).
McErlean, A.J., S.G. O'Connor, J.A. Mihursky, & CJ. Gibson. 1973. Abundance, diversity and seasonal patterns of estuarine fish populations. Est. and Coastal Mar. Sci., 1: 19-36.
Peterson, C. L. 1956. Observations on the taxonomy, biology and ecology of the engraulid and clupeid fishes in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Bull. Inter-Amer. Trop. Tuna Comm., 1: 139-280.
Peterson, C.L. 1960. La oceanografía física del Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica, un estuario tropical. Bull. Inter-Amer. Tropical Tuna Comm., 4: 139-214.
Pielou, E. C. 1966. The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. J. Theoret. Biol., 13: 131-144.
Salzen, E. 1957. A trawling survey off the Gold Coast. J. du Conseil. 23: 72-82.
Stevenson, D.K. 1978. Management of fisheries resources in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica: Methods and preliminary results. Rev. Biol. Trop., 26 (Suppl. 1): 107-123.
Stevenson, D. K. 1979. Use of length frequency data to estimate growth and mortality rates for species exploited by tropical small-scale fisheries in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, p. 137-153. In S.B. Saila & P. Roedel (eds.). Stock assessment for tropical small-scale fisheries, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I.
Stevenson, D., & F. Víquez. 1978. Evaluación preliminar sobre ciertas especies de corvina, robalo, pargo y macarela en el Golfo de Nicoya. Dir. Gral. Rec. Pesqueros y Vida Silvestre, Minist. Agríc. y Ganadería de Costa Rica 27 p. (mimeogr.).
Subrahmanyam, C., & S. Drake. 1975. Studies on the animal communities in two north Florida salt marshes, Part 1. Bull. Mar. Sci., 25: 445-465.
Voorhis, A. D., C. E. Epifanio, D. Maurer, AJ. Dittel, & J. A. Vargas. 1982. The estuarine character of the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Hydrobiologia. (in press).
Comments
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 1983 Revista de Biología Tropical