New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Fish assemblages in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand
Terese H. Kendrick*
Malcolm P. Francis†
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research Limited
P.O. Box 14 901
Wellington, New Zealand
email: m.francis@niwa.co.nz
*Present address: P.O. Box 9538, Nadi Airport, Fiji Islands.
†Author for correspondence.
Abstract Species assemblages in the Hauraki Gulf,
New Zealand, and the factors affecting them, were determined from abundance
data collected from 1381 trawl tows by two research vessels during 1964-97.
Correspondence Analysis and Ward’s Cluster Analysis were used to identify
assemblages, and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) to explore the relationships
between the assemblages and depth, sediment type, latitude, longitude, and
year. Twenty-six species that occurred in more than 5% of the stations were
assigned to four assemblages, and a further four species showed no affinities
with other species. For four commercial species, there was no evidence of
ontogenetic variation in assemblage membership. The CCA models explained
only 11-12% of the variance in the data. Year was the most important explanatory
variable, suggesting that between-year variation in species abundance affected
assemblage composition. Sediment type was also important for many species.
Assemblage A species were most abundant at shallow (<50 m) mud sites,
Assemblage B species at sand and deep (>50 m) mud sites, and Assemblage
D species at deep mud sites. Assemblage C species had varied habitat preferences.
The commercially important Pagrus auratus and Nemadactylus macropterus preferred mud, and Chelidonichthys kumu preferred sand. Zeus faber was most abundant at muddy sites, but also occurred (sometimes abundantly) at sandy sites.
Keywords fish assemblages; Hauraki Gulf; Pagrus auratus; Nemadactylus macropterus; Chelidonichthys kumu; Zeus faber; depth; sediment type
M02011 Received 12 February 2002; accepted 11 June 2002; published 14 November
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2002, Vol. 36: 699-717
0028-8330/02/3604-0699 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2002
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