Reproductive resilience of an estuarine fish in the eye of a hurricane

Abstract

Spatial and temporal patterns of spawning activity are important measures of resilience in fishes that directly link environmental disturbances with reproductive success. We acoustically monitored spawning in spotted seatrout ( Cynoscion nebulosus ) from April through September 2017 at 15 sites near Port Aransas, Texas, which coincided with the landfall of a category 4 hurricane (Harvey) on 25 August. Spawning sounds were recorded every day of the study across all sites and were also confirmed during the hurricane at two sites located within the eye of the storm. Daily spawning continued after the hurricane, but the onset of spawning shifted 2.12 h earlier for 5 days, after which it returned to the pre-storm schedule. These results illustrate the resilience of seatrout to intense, episodic disturbances and offer insights on the phenotypic plasticity of estuarine fishes to cope with projected increases in environmental variability.