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journal article Mar 19, 2021

Four decades of reef observations illuminate deep‐water grouper hotspots

Avery B. Paxton ORCID Stacey L. Harter Steve W. Ross Christina M. Schobernd Brendan J. Runde ORCID Paul J. Rudershausen Katrina H. Johnson Kyle W. Shertzer Nathan M. Bacheler ORCID Jeffrey A. Buckel G. Todd Kellison J. Christopher Taylor
Fish and Fisheries Vol. 22 No. 4 pp. 749-761 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1111/faf.12548
Abstract
AbstractFish often aggregate to spawn, feed, rest, or avoid predation. Direct observations of very high counts of large‐bodied grouper on deep shipwrecks, however, do not fit into typical descriptions of spawning‐, resource‐, or predation‐driven aggregations. To investigate whether these observations are rare or part of an underlying pattern, we synthesized four decades (1979–2019) of direct observations of groupers on deep‐water (50–300 m) habitats along the southeastern United States (Cape Hatteras, NC to Cape Canaveral, FL). The direct observations, which included 439 remotely operated vehicle transects, 235 human‐occupied vehicle transects, and 881 hook‐and‐line drops, revealed six hotspots of deep‐water groupers on three shipwrecks, two artificial reefs, and one boulder field. Grouper counts at these hotspots (0.10–5.40 grouper per linear m surveyed) exceeded counts of grouper outside of hotspots (<0.01–0.02 grouper per linear m surveyed) by multiple orders of magnitude. Commonalities among the sites with grouper hotspots included that all are relatively isolated structures surrounded by unconsolidated sediments and located in shelf‐edge to upper‐slope depths. Thus, it appears that these isolated habitats, despite their small spatial footprint, represent a disproportionate abundance of deep‐water groupers. Future research efforts should determine how groupers derive sufficient resources from, and thus co‐occur on, these small habitats and how these aggregations relate to the large‐scale dynamics of these populations.
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Showing 50 of 56 references

Metrics
15
Citations
56
References
Details
Published
Mar 19, 2021
Vol/Issue
22(4)
Pages
749-761
License
View
Authors
A
Avery B. Paxton

CSS‐Inc. Fairfax VA USA; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

S
Stacey L. Harter

Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Panama City FL USA

S
Steve W. Ross

Center for Marine Science University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington NC USA

C
Christina M. Schobernd

Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

B
Brendan J. Runde

Department of Applied Ecology Center for Marine Sciences and Technology North Carolina State University Morehead City NC USA

P
Paul J. Rudershausen

Department of Applied Ecology Center for Marine Sciences and Technology North Carolina State University Morehead City NC USA

K
Katrina H. Johnson

Bates College Lewiston ME USA

K
Kyle W. Shertzer

Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

N
Nathan M. Bacheler

Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

J
Jeffrey A. Buckel

Department of Applied Ecology Center for Marine Sciences and Technology North Carolina State University Morehead City NC USA

G
G. Todd Kellison

Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

J
J. Christopher Taylor

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort NC USA

Funding
College of Charleston
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Cite This Article
Avery B. Paxton, Stacey L. Harter, Steve W. Ross, et al. (2021). Four decades of reef observations illuminate deep‐water grouper hotspots. Fish and Fisheries, 22(4), 749-761. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12548
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