Salinity tolerances of estuarine cyprinodonts
#1 Guest_fundulus_*
Posted 05 December 2007 - 10:39 AM
The most tolerant fish was the sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, followed by my personal fave the mummichog, F. heteroclitus.
Frank Nordlie's interest in compiling this review was to examine what's known of these fishs' tolerances as it might related to a changing climate, and how well these fishes might be able to respond to warmer and/or drier conditions as forecast by most of the computer models of North American climate for the next 100 years. Fun stuff.
So anyway, don't keep any banded killifish you have in salt water, they won't like it.
#2 Guest_dsmith73_*
Posted 07 December 2007 - 06:43 AM
There was a discussion in another thread recently about whether or not the banded killifish, Fundulus diaphanus, was found in fully saline water in a marsh north of Boston. That lead me back to a review published last year that assessed the known physicochemical tolerances of 28 species of cyprinodontoid fishes in North America: "Physicochemical environments and tolerances of cyprinodontoid fishes found in estuaries and salt marshes of North America", Frank G. Nordlie, Rev. Fish Biol. Fisheries (2006) 16:51 -- 106. This is a hugely comprehensive review. For banded killifish the encountered (reported) salinity range is 0 -- 14.1 ppt, well below oceanic salinity of ~35 ppt. Interestingly, laboratory stress tests found the upper salinity limit to be 69.6 ppt before all of the tested individuals died.
The most tolerant fish was the sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, followed by my personal fave the mummichog, F. heteroclitus.
Frank Nordlie's interest in compiling this review was to examine what's known of these fishs' tolerances as it might related to a changing climate, and how well these fishes might be able to respond to warmer and/or drier conditions as forecast by most of the computer models of North American climate for the next 100 years. Fun stuff.
So anyway, don't keep any banded killifish you have in salt water, they won't like it.
Hey Bruce, is there a way I can get a copy of that?
#3 Guest_Mysteryman_*
Posted 07 December 2007 - 09:12 AM
#4 Guest_fundulus_*
Posted 07 December 2007 - 09:24 AM
And yeah, I've seen sheepsheads in incredibly foul, salty pools in salt marshes along the New England coast. I think that they've acclimated to the hot, warm water and would be harmed by "clean" water. They can get by for at least a short period by eating plant detritus. I also used to find high densities of young of the year, around 15 mm long, in these pools and they always seemed to be in good shape. With those tolerances they can use habitats available to few others, except mummichogs and spotfin killies (Fundulus luciae).
#5 Guest_mzokan_*
Posted 07 December 2007 - 10:34 AM
salinity_tolerances.pdf 712.85KB 52 downloads
In South Carolina I would only see sheepshead minnows in upper saltmarsh pools that rarely get flushed with the tides, but in south Florida I would get them in freshwater -- these ones made great aquarium fish, one male stayed colored up throughout the year with a turquoise back and orange fins.
Marcus
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