DEEP SEA, ESTUARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES: LIFE HISTORY STRATEGIES AND ECOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES

Abstract

The life histories of fishes from three different ecosystems are compared and discussed with emphasis on species that move between habitats: between estuary and sea in tropical northern Australia; between bottom waters and pelagic waters of the temperate continental slope off Tasmania; and between river and pans in a tropical African floodplain. The advantages and disadvantages of such movements are discussed in relation to proximate factors such as cannibalism, and in an evolutionary context. The reality of divisions between habitats has to be critically examined; whereas some are pronounced, others may be generated mainly by the dimensions and limits of research projects.