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Recolonisation and recruitment of fishes to intertidal rockpools at Wellington, New Zealand

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A study of recolonisation of rockpools by intertidal fishes on the Wellington south coast, New Zealand, found the assemblage to be resilient and seasonally stable. A total of 26 species from nine families were recorded, dominated by the Tripterygiidae (triplefins) and Gobiesocidae (clingfishes). A pattern of alternating species dominance occurred, with the triplefinsBellapiscis medius andForsterygion lapillum being numerically dominant in summer, but becoming less common in winter and replaced as dominants by the clingfishesTrachelochismus pinnulatus andGastroscyphus hectoris. Juvenile recruits of eleven species occurred in the samples from spring to early summer, however only the aforementioned four species recruit to the intertidal zone in large numbers. The speed of rockpool recolonisation by fishes after extractive sampling is seasonally dependent, being quicker in the summer than winter. In general, recolonisation takes at least one month, but probably fewer than three. While stochastic factors influence assemblage composition in the short term, overall regulation of the fish assemblage of rockpools appears to be primarily deterministic, resulting in an essentially predictable taxonomic structure.

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Author notes

  1. Trevor J. Willis

    Present address: Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland, P.O. Box 349, Warkworth, New Zealand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Island Bay Marine Laboratory, Victoria University of Wellington, 396-402 The Esplanade, Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

    Trevor J. Willis

  2. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, P.O. Box 467, Wellington, New Zealand

    Clive D. Roberts

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  1. Trevor J. Willis
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  2. Clive D. Roberts
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Willis, T.J., Roberts, C.D. Recolonisation and recruitment of fishes to intertidal rockpools at Wellington, New Zealand. Environ Biol Fish 47, 329–343 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005047

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005047

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