Habitat Use Patterns of Juvenile Ladyfish ( Elops saurus ) in Florida (USA) Estuaries

Natural Resource management is evolving toward ensuring sustainable ecosystems rather than sustainable yields. Understanding how a species interacts with its environment is fundamental for sound ecosystem management. If we are progressing toward an ecosystem management approach, then we must first understand how a species interacts with its environment and how the environment affects a species population dynamics. Ladyfish ( Elops saurus ) are a valuable commercial and recreational species; however, limited information is available describing the importance of their habitat. To date, only a few studies have noted the environmental conditions during ladyfish field-collections, and only one study has investigated ladyfish nursery habitats in any detail. Given the economic importance of ladyfish in Florida (USA), the objective of this investigation was to define, for the first time, juvenile ladyfish relative abundance in association to environmental conditions and habitat use at multiple Florida estuaries. In addition, this investigation re-examined some of the scientific findings and conclusions of previous ladyfish studies; incorporated additional data sets; and evaluated available ladyfish data at a finer scale of phenomena. Overall, juvenile ladyfish were collected in waters with wide-ranging environmental conditions having a sandy bottom, but preferred specific locations with particular dissolved oxygen, pH, water temperature, and salinity levels according to their size.