Fish species, families and guilds recorded in selected estuaries of Mozambique

Abstract

This review documents the occurrence of fish species in a range of estuaries from Mozambique. Altogether 217 fish species were recorded, belonging to 77 families, and dominated in terms of species richness by Gobiidae, Carangidae and Mugilidae. A guild analysis was conducted to compare the occurrence and degree of estuary-association by the various species in tropical Mozambique, with that recorded from nearby predominantly subtropical and warm-temperate estuaries in South Africa. The major difference in guild occurrence between the two countries centered on the higher representation of marine stragglers in Mozambique estuaries, a probable result of the wide mouths and macrotidal exchange of some of the larger systems along this coast. Estuarine lakes and lagoons within the Mozambique coastal region showed increasing reduction in marine connectivity with channel distance from the sea, and a concomitant increase in freshwater fish species domination of these incipient coastal lakes and lagoons. Once these systems lose all connectivity with the sea, they become freshwater coastal lakes and lagoons, and all estuary-associated marine fish species disappear.