Oh, the Locations We Go: The Journey of Grey Snapper Larvae on the West Florida Shelf – Tech Cyber Internet

Eric Bovee is an MS scholar within the Faculty of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences on the College of Florida. Eric was awarded the Florida Sea Grant Man Harvey Fellowship in 2024.

All of us have our inside present that guides us all through our profession journey. My present began on the College of Florida, the place I obtained my B.S. in marine sciences. After graduating, my present curved broadly west — I grew to become a North Pacific Groundfish Observer in Alaskathe place I collected data on fish populations aboard numerous industrial fishing vessels.  As my present settled down, I stayed in Alaska as a technician for the Tongass Nationwide Forest, accumulating knowledge on topics such because the impact of logging roads on fish passage and variations in fish communities post-stream restoration.

My present then took a wild flip again east. I grew to become a technician onboard the NOAA R/V Henry Bigelow aiding on the annual Backside Trawl Survey, which collects knowledge on fish species starting from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Nova Scotia, Canada. My present then “closed the loop,” returning me to the College of Florida the place I at the moment analysis the larval dispersal of Grey Snapper on the West Florida Shelf as an M.S. scholar within the Murie Lab.

Grey Snapper (Lutjanus griseus) is often known as “Mangrove Snapper.” Regardless of this title, immature Grey Snapper can be present in different inshore habitats, resembling seagrass beds and oyster reefs. As soon as mature, they transfer offshore to a variety of habitats together with, however not restricted to, coral and rocky reefs Resulting from this motion, it’s exhausting to attach which offshore spawning areas provide eggs to vital inshore nursery habitats.

To reply this query, first, our lab needed to establish the place Grey Snapper spawn of their offshore habitat. Fortunately, my lab mate Ashely Weschler had carried out a reproductive research on Grey Snapper within the Gulf of Mexico, which recognized spawning areas alongside the West Florida Shelf by accumulating feminine fish and histologically figuring out the state of their ovaries. We additionally dropped down cameras to find out the abundances of Grey Snapper in areas the place we collected our fish.

Along with Ashley’s reproductive research, I recognized different potential spawning areas on the West Florida Shelf by utilizing data collected from the Gulf Fisheries-Impartial Survey of Habitat of Ecosystem Assets (G-FISHER). This survey makes use of stereo-baited distant underwater video arrays to rely fish and file their lengths. I recognized areas the place there have been excessive counts of Grey Snapper that additionally had a mean dimension of mature fish. The places Ashley and I recognized have been utilized in my larval dispersal mannequin.

I used the Connectivity Modeling Systemcreated by the Paris Lab on the College of Miami. This mannequin differs from different larval dispersal fashions — slightly than treating each larva as a passive particle, it permits the consumer to incorporate larval habits resembling ontogenetic vertical migration (the flexibility for the larvae to swim up and down the water column as they develop). After together with data on offshore spawning areas, inshore nursery habitats, larval habits, and modeled ocean currents, the mannequin may give us an output of predicted areas the place Grey Snapper larvae would settle inshore.

Completely different present programs can take larvae to numerous places, regardless of originating from the identical spawning habitat. My analysis hopes to tell fisheries managers concerning the connectivity between sure offshore spawning habitats and inshore nursery habitats on the West Florida Shelf, and for managers to take into accounts these larval pathways when making administration selections. That is vital since Grey Snapper helps a big leisure fishery that happens in each state waters and federal waters.

Because the ocean present guides Grey Snapper larvae inshore, an analogous present has guided my profession selections, taking me all around the United States, whereas a few of my buddies again residence have by no means left my hometown. Grey Snapper larvae taught me to all the time observe your inside present — you by no means know the place it will possibly take you!

Wish to be taught what the remainder of the Florida Sea Grant Man Harvey Fellows are as much as? Take a look at these student-written blogs to examine their respective backgrounds and analysis: https://www.flseagrant.org/tag/ghf-blog/