River flow and fish abundance in a South African estuary

✍ Scribed by A. K. Whitfield; T. D. Harrison

• Book ID: 104455639
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 80 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-1112
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1095-8649.2003.00125.x

✦ Synopsis

The ichthyofauna of the Thukela Estuary, a small (55 ha), shallow (<1·5 m) system on the KwaZulu‐Natal coast (mean annual river runoff of 3865 × 10^6^ m^3^, from a large catchment of 29 000 km^2^, is seasonal: peak inputs occurring between November and March), was dominated by the juveniles of marine taxa that used the estuary as a nursery area. A striking feature of the above community was the decline in fish abundance with increasing river input, with flow values >100 m^3^ s^−1^ leading to increased loss of species from the system. This decline was linked to the lack of saline intrusion into the estuary and increased freshwater flooding through the system.