Nekton use of submerged aquatic vegetation, marsh, and shallow unvegetated bottom in the Atchafalaya River Delta, a Louisiana tidal freshwater ecosystem

We sampled nekton (fishes and decapod crustaceans) in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) (Potamogeton nodosus, Najas guadalupensis), in emergent marsh vegetation (Sagittaria spp. and Scirpus americanus), and over unvegetated bottom associated with three islands in the Atchafalaya River Delta, Louisiana. The purpose of our study was to quantify nekton densities in these major aquatic habitat types and to document the relative importance of these areas to numerically dominant aquatic organisms. We collected a total of 33 species of fishes and 7 species of crustaceans in 298 1-m(2) throw trap samples taken over three seasons: summer (July and August 1994), fall (September and October 1994), and spring (May and June 1995). Fishes numerically accounted for > 65% of the total organisms collected. Vegetated areas generally supported much higher nekton densities than unvegetated sites, although bay anchovies Anchoa mitchilli were more abundant over unvegetated bottom than in most vegetated habitat types. Among vegetation types, most species showed no apparent preference between SAV and marsh. However, inland silversides Menidia beryllina and freshwater gobies Gobionellus shufeldti were most abundant in Scirpus marsh in summer, and blue crabs Callinectes sapidus were most abundant in SAV (Potamogeton) in spring. Several species (sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus, rainwater killifish Lucania parva, and blue crab) apparently selected the vegetated backmarsh of islands (opposite of riverside) over streamside Scirpus marsh. Freshwater gobies, in contrast, were most abundant in streamside Scirpus marsh. Densities of juvenile blue crabs were high (up to 17 m(-2)) in vegetated delta habitat types and comparable to values reported from more saline regions of Gulf Coast estuaries. Shallow vegetated habitat types of the Atchafalaya River Delta and other tidal freshwater systems of the Gulf Coast may be: important nursery areas for blue crabs and other estuarine species.