Evaluating habitat selection by estuarine fishes is an integral part of developing management initiatives for conserving critical habitats and promoting healthy fish stocks. Habitat preferences are often identified through comparisons of demographic responses, such as relative abundance, within target habitats. Sampling gears (i.e., gill-nets and traps) and methodologies used to quantify these parameters are often wrought with biases. In this study, we used high resolution (sub-meter) detection data from thirty-four acoustically tagged red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) to evaluate habitat selection in a semi-enclosed embayment within a temperate saltmarsh ecosystem. We quantified electivity indices (ratio of habitat use to habitat availability) using fish detection data and area of individually-mapped sand, marsh, seagrass, and oyster habitats. Additionally, we explored context-dependent (location) selection of oyster reefs located in unique landscape settings within the embayment. Electivity indices suggested greater than expected use of oyster reefs and bands of bare substrate adjacent to marsh fringing shell habitats, whereas open sand habitat was used less than expected. Distinct habitat use patterns were observed among individual reef types, with red drum displaying preferences for saltmarsh oyster reefs and fringing shell habitats and avoiding sand and seagrass reefs. Seagrass was used in approximately equal proportions to its availability within the embayment. Through high resolution analysis of habitat use and preferences, this study provides greater understanding of fish-habitat relationships within a dynamic estuarine environment previously unattainable using traditional sampling designs.

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Funding Sources: North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant program

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Collaborators: Matthew Kenworthy*, Joel Fodrie*, Charles Peterson, Jon Grabowski, Craig Layman, Graham Sherwood, Sean Powers

     *Project PI