Inventories of Intertidal and Estuarine Fishes of Acadia National Park

Moring, John

Inventory made of the fishes found in intertidal and estuaries areas adjacent to the Park lands. Acadia National Park is part of the Northeast Temperate Network, and inventory and monitoring activities are becoming increasingly important to the long-term management goals of the Park. Summaries of past studies of freshwater fish resources of Acadia National Park have been issued (Bowes et al. 1999) and more detailed inventories (with relative abundance assessments) are undergoing final reviews (Moring et al. 2001). However, detailed inventories of fishes of estuaries and intertidal areas adjacent to Park lands are very limited. Fishes inhabiting these mixing areas between the land and ocean are extremely important components of ecosystems (Edwards et al. 1982), and can be categorized in one of three groups. Intertidal fishes are those utilizing the intertidal zone, either during flood or ebb tides. Typically, they forage in the area between the low and high tide marks during the flood tide, then often depart with the receding tide. Tidepool fishes are found in isolated, trapped tidepools at low tide. Tidepool fishes are also intertidal fishes, but not all intertidal fishes are tidepool fishes. Tidepool fishes include (1) those species that spend their entire life cycle (or much of it) living in tidepools and the intertidal zone, (2) juvenile stages of subtidal fishes that use tidepools as refuges from predators during the first or second year of life, and (3) occasional, rare visitors typically intertidal species that become trapped in pools with a rapidly receding tide. Estuarine fishes are those found in the transition zones between river mouths and the ocean, and in salt marshes. Often, the species list for such areas depends on the salinity at a given location, although many estuarine fish species are euryhaline, and are able to live in a variety of salinities. These intertidal and estuarine areas are particularly susceptible to oil spills, sewage, chemical pollutants released into coastal areas, and coastal development (Moring 1983). Not only do such spills tend to concentrate along the shores (Boesch et al. 1974), but intertidal and estuarine fishes have strong habitat and food requirements in these locales. Even if fishes are able to physically move from an impacted area, marine algae and many forms of sessile invertebrates can not leave. Thus, fishes can be adversely affected, even in an indirect way because of the strong habitat requirements and associations (Boesch and Turner 1984; Rozas and Odum 1988; Sogard and Able 1991). Estuaries are typically the most productive regions of coastal waters and tidepools serve important nursery and refuge functions for many commercially-important species of marine fishes in Maine waters, such as juvenile pollock (Pollachius virens), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus), and lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus). As a consequence, future Park management may rely heavily on baseline inventories of species presence and their relative abundance.

Inventories of Intertidal and Estuarine Fishes of Acadia National Park

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