ABSTRACT
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Materials and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Helix Reef Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Bowden Reef Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Helix Reef Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Bowden Reef Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Hydrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Fish Distribution and Abundance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Dispersion Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Coral reef fish, with very few exceptions, have planktonic egg, larvae, and pre-settlement juvenile stages that vary in duration from weeks to months. Most reef fish spawn buoyant eggs that have the potential to be transported many kilometers in wind-driven surface currents before hatching into larvae capable of influencing their dispersal. Others lay eggs in protected nests with the subsequent release to the water column of actively swimming larvae or juveniles, thus minimizing the time their offspring are exposed to the vagaries of ocean or shelf currents and enhancing the
chances of recruitment back to their natal reef (Jones et al., 1999). In either case, the problem facing propagules expatriated from coral reefs is one of population closure-of finding shallow coral reef habitat suitable for the juvenile/adult phases in their life cycle.
