Sustained swimming abilities of the late pelagic stages of coral reef fishes

摘要: The sustained swimming abilities of the late pelagic stages 9 families reef fishes were measured at 13.5 cm S ' There was a 25-fold difference in among families. Acanthurid juveniles swam on average for 194 3 h, covering equivalent 94.4 km. In comparison nemipterids only 7.4 3.6 distances covered by other taxa ranged from 8 to 62.2 Among ability related size and age but this relationship explained little variation present (R2 = 0.403). Our results demonstrate that are competent swimmers capable actively modifying their dispersal. This has direct implicat~ons replenishment fish populations, especially with respect mechanisms self-seeding maintenance regional biogeographical patterns.