Larval fish composition and spatio-temporal variation in the estuary of Pendas River, southwestern Johor, Peninsular Malaysia

The temporal and spatial patterns of family composition and abundance of fish larvae in the Pendas River mangrove estuary (Southwestern Johor) of Peninsular Malaysia was studied monthly using bongo net in daylight sampling. Environmental factors viz., water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity were also monitored during sampling. In total 2687 individuals representing 19 families were collected during 12 months study period (October 2007 to September 2008). The larval fish community was dominated numerically by a few families. Clupeidae was the most abundant making up 41.07% of the total catch, followed by Blenniidae (24.45%), Terapontidae (8.80%), Gobiidae (5.40%) and Sillaginidae (3.22%). These five families constituted 82.94% of the total catch; the remaining 17.06% consisted of another 14 families. The family composition of fish larvae varied with season and location in the estuary. Several of the families showed maximum numbers during the monsoon. The diversity of the ichthyoplankton assemblage in the Pendas River mangrove estuary (19 families) is lower than in most other tropical estuaries.Proceedings of the Horiba International Conference "New Direction of Ocean Research in the Western Pacific" : Past, Present and Future of UNESCO/IOC/WESTPAC Activity for 50 years and the JSPS Project "Coastal Marine Science"Section I: Research Articles/Biodiversit