Annual and Semilunar Reproductive Cycles of the Gulf Killifish, Fundulus grandis, on the Alabama Gulf Coast

Genomic and physiological footprint of theDeepwater Horizonoil spill on resident marsh fishes

“…Although home range and toxicology studies are lacking for F. grandis, we infer that F. grandis is also relatively sensitive to pollutants and exhibits high site fidelity, such that the biology of this species is likely affected primarily by the local environment, given the recent shared ancestry of F. grandis with F. heteroclitus (8) and similar physiology, life history, and habitat (9-13). We sampled from populations resident in Gulf of Mexico-exposed marshes before oil landfall (May 1-9, 2010), during the peak of oil landfall (June [28][29][30]2010), and after much of the surface oil was no longer apparent 2 mo later (August 30-September 1, 2010) at six field sites from Barataria Bay, Louisiana, east to Mobile Bay, Alabama ( Fig. 1 and Dataset S1).…”

Diel hypoxia in marsh creeks impairs the reproductive capacity of estuarine fish populations

“…We focused on the gulf killifish Fundulus grandis because it is abundant along the entire northern Gulf of Mexico coast (Pattillo et al 1997), has well documented semilunar spawning cycles (Greeley & MacGregor 1983, Greeley et al 1988, and well characterized behavioral and physiological responses to oxygen stress. F. grandis is an oxygen regulator, sustaining constant oxygen consumption at DO concentrations above ~1.5 mg l -1 , but becoming an oxygen conformer at lower concentrations (Virani & Rees 2000).…”

“…A minimum of 20 males and 20 females were collected from each site. Because lunar phase significantly influences the reproductive status of the gulf killifish (Greeley & MacGregor 1983), collection from both sites within an estuary was completed over 2 to 3 d in the 5 d period before the July full moon. Weeks Bay sites were sampled on lunar days 10 to 12 (lunar day 0 = new moon) in 2004 and 2005.…”

“…SL was included in the model because relative gonad size and steroid sex hormones can vary with body size in fish. Lunar day was included because lunar phase significantly affects GSI and sex steroids in Fundulus grandis (Greeley & MacGregor 1983, Greeley et al 1988, and sampling occurred over a 2 to 3 d period with samples being collected at both sites each day. Time of day was included because F. grandis steroid hormone concentrations and GSI vary over a 24 h period (Emata et al 1991).…”

Coastal Habitats of the Gulf of Mexico

“…This group included the larger fundulid, Fundulus grandis, caridean shrimp in the genus Palaemonetes, and smaller individuals of the portunid crab, Callinectes sapidus. Some of the species in this group, particularly the fundulids, exhibited foraging habits (Rozas and LaSalle 1990;Lopez et al 2010a, b) and life history characteristics such as reproductive activity synchronized with tidal cycles (Greeley and MacGregor 1983) and delayed hatching of eggs (Harrington 1959) that suggest specific adaptations to the intertidal marsh environment. Group C contained species that are commonly associated with the flooded edges of tidal marshes but rarely venture more than a few meters into the vegetation.…”