This preliminary study reveals that it is possible to tag and track small flats fishes which opens the door for longer-term and more fine-scale (e.g. for barracuda there were more detections at warmer water temperatures). Some of the space use patterns observed appeared to be correlated with water temperature (e.g. Similarly, juvenile redfin needlefish had the lowest residency during the morning and were more resident during the other period. Juvenile barracuda were least present during the morning but were detected during all other times of the day. Juvenile barracuda and juvenile redfin needlefish were mobile but tended to spend the majority of their time near several receivers. Juvenile bonefish had the lowest site fidelity and travelled throughout the array area, primarily detected at night (albeit sample size was low). Yellowfin mojarra had the highest site fidelity and were detected most commonly during diurnal periods. Fish species tagged included juvenile bonefish ( Albula vulpes n = 2), juvenile great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda n = 22), juvenile redfin needlefish ( Strongylura notata n = 21), and yellowfin mojarra ( Gerres cinereus n = 20), and their movements were recorded by twenty hydrophone receivers deployed in nearshore flats habitats extending ~ 3 km along the shoreline.

Here, we used the smallest commercially available acoustic transmitter to tag and track several juvenile or small-bodied species of a flats fish assemblage in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, The Bahamas. Recent advances in acoustic telemetry have allowed for the tagging of small fish. Nearshore fish communities in marine flats ecosystems are recognised as being key for early life stages of socio-economically valued fish species, as well as small-bodied forage fishes, yet little is known about the spatial ecology of these fishes.

Coastal flats hours