Scartella cristata - Amazon S3

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study as well as increasing the number of study sites would alleviate many of these problems. It would
also be desirable to establish paired stations (i.e. on the north and south jetty at each site) enabling better
replication of sampling effort.
Age and Growth of Scartella cristata on Texas Jetties
Age and Growth
Scartella cristata appears to be a fast growing, short-lived resident on Texas jetties. It was found
to grow at 0.2 mm/day, live about 1.5 years, and spawn from January to June. While no previous work
has been published on age and growth of S. cristata, Eyeberg (1984) found similar results in a South
African congener, Scartella emarginata. The latter grows quickly, up to 0.26 mm/day under laboratory
conditions, reaches sexual maturity at 36 mm total length, rarely lives past 2 years, and spawns year round
(Eyeberg 1984). This pattern is seen in small, short-lived reef fishes such as gobies (Kritzer 2002);
however, whether it holds true for all subtropical/tropical blenniids or only for the Genus Scartella is
unclear. Nonetheless, temperate blennies exhibit a life history pattern almost completely opposite that of
Scartella. Hypsoblennius species along the California coast are long-lived (7+ years) and grow quickly
(0.12 mm/day) for their first year prior to slowing (0.03 mm/day) considerably (Stephens et al. 1970).
Blennius gattorugine and Blennius pholis live up to 9 years in Ireland, grow quickly (no rate reported) for
the first 2 years, then slow considerably (Dunne and Byrne 1979). These temperate species also spawned
within discrete seasons, usually spring through early summer (Stephens et al. 1970, Dunne and Byrne
1979). Estuarine species of blennies also appear to exhibit a different life history pattern. Hypsoblennius
hentz was found to grow at over double the rate (0.5 mm/day) of Scartella in estuaries of the mid-Atlantic
Bight (Able and Fahay 1998). This may be due to estuarine species of Hypsoblennius being longer-lived
and slower to mature (Clarke 1979) than Scartella, thus allowing them to dedicate more energy toward
somatic growth.
Growth rates of Scartella cristata appear consistent with those of S. emarginata, the only
published value for Scartella; however, estimated size-at-hatching is somewhat problematic because at
10.42 mm it greatly exceeds published accounts of hatch sizes for Blenniidae; Chasmodes
bosquianus=3.56-3.78 mm (Fritzsche 1978), Hypsoblennius hentz=2.6-2.8 (Fritzsche 1978),