19.06.2014 Views

serikali ya mapinduzi zanzibar care tanzania and department

serikali ya mapinduzi zanzibar care tanzania and department

serikali ya mapinduzi zanzibar care tanzania and department

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Movement <strong>and</strong> migration is a common phenomenon for animals including fishes.<br />

Movements could be for feeding purposes, escaping predation, or escaping unsuitable<br />

conditions.<br />

The migrations like other characteristics of the species have some adaptive<br />

significance, ensuring favourable conditions for the existence <strong>and</strong> reproduction of the<br />

species. The cycles of migrations usually consist of:<br />

1. Spawning migration: movement of fishes from the feeding grounds to the<br />

spawning grounds<br />

2. Feeding migrations: movement away from the spawning grounds to the<br />

feeding grounds<br />

Most marine species are migrants. Migration between marine <strong>and</strong> estuarine<br />

ecosystems has ecological <strong>and</strong> commercial significance. In Ngezi fishermen report<br />

large numbers of fish migrating from deep-water areas into the shallow seagrass beds<br />

when the sea is rough <strong>and</strong> turbulent. These fish return to deep water when the sea is<br />

calm.<br />

Feeding migration<br />

Feeding migration is normally accompanied by the changes of the tidal regime at<br />

Ngezi. When water recedes to a low tide the juvenile <strong>and</strong> mature fishes tend to<br />

migrate to deeper waters. When tide in the bay reaches high water mark the fishes<br />

especially the detritivorous, omnivorous <strong>and</strong> herbivorores also migrate to the feeding<br />

grounds in shallow waters.<br />

In general carnivorous species constitute 50-70 % of the fish. Godman <strong>and</strong> Talbot<br />

(1976) reported that many of the carnivorous fish appear not to be highly specialized<br />

to a given food type but instead are opportunistic feeders, taking whatever is available<br />

to them.<br />

Herbivores <strong>and</strong> coral grazers make up the next largest groups of fishes <strong>and</strong> account<br />

for 15% of the species. Of these, Scaridae <strong>and</strong> Acanthuridae are most important. The<br />

remaining fishes are considered to be omnivores <strong>and</strong> include all families of fishes on<br />

the reef (i.e. Pomacentridae, Chaetodontidae, Pomacanthidae, Monacanthidae,<br />

Ostraciidae, Tetraodontidae). A few groups, mainly small schooling fishes in the<br />

families Pomacentridae, Clupeidae <strong>and</strong> Atherinidae, are zooplankton feeders.<br />

4.2.12.4 Fish habitats <strong>and</strong> spawning areas<br />

Fishes <strong>and</strong> mangroves<br />

Mangroves are one of the most productive ecosystems. They harbour a diversity of<br />

fish species due to the presence of organic matter (dissolved or particulate), detritus<br />

from plant litter <strong>and</strong> their associated organisms (bacteria, fungi, micro, macro <strong>and</strong><br />

meio fauna). Between 80% <strong>and</strong> 90% of the inshore l<strong>and</strong>ing in East Africa comes from<br />

artisanal fishers who operate within 22 km limits to territorial waters (Anon, 1979).<br />

The presence of mangroves in Ngezi makes the area a potentially important habitat for<br />

fish <strong>and</strong> fishing.<br />

Large predators enter the mangroves with incoming tide (Sasekumar et al., 1984;<br />

Blaber et al, 1985). The lack of important piscivorous fish reported in some<br />

mangroves (Blaber 1980; Bell et al., 1984) seems to relate to high turbidity <strong>and</strong> very<br />

low depth where predators become less effective. Most of the fish species breeding in<br />

mangrove areas completes all their lifecycle there (Thallot, 1992). This situation is<br />

61

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!