ABSTRACT
Mugilids are a highly opportunistic fi sh family and occupy a wide variety of coastal habitats with varying temperature, salinity, turbidity, sedimentary and dissolved oxygen regimes. This diverse family can dominate fi sh assemblages in both Northern and Southern Hemisphere estuaries, lagoons and lakes. For example, seven species of mugilids contributed 42% towards the total fi sh catch in Koycegiz estuarine lagoon in Turkey (Akin et al. 2005) and 10 species have been recorded in the estuarine Lake St. Lucia in South Africa, some of which are abundant within this system (Blaber 1977). Even in those coastal ecosystems where only one or two mullet species occur, this particular family can still dominate the fi sh fauna, e.g., in the Berg Estuary, where the South African mullet Liza richardsonii is abundant when compared to other marine fi sh taxa entering this system (Clark et al. 2009).
