Collections were made over many small boat SCUBA dives from 2003-2008; cruises and dives were not numbered.\u00a0
\nThe otoliths were extracted using standard dissecting techniques and placed in a drop of medium viscosity immersion oil on a microscope slide to clear for a minimum of 30 d. Based on ease of reading, only the lapilli were examined.\u00a0The clearest lapillus was chosen from each individual and viewed under 400 magnification through a Leica DMLB microscope equipped with a polarized filter between the first stage and light source. The image was captured by a Dage MTI video camera and analyzed using Image Pro Plus 4.5 software (Media Cybernetics). Each otolith was read once blind (i.e., without sample information available) and saved as a digital file. Every 5th individual was measured a second time. The images of the remaining 1029 fish were examined to determine if there was any ambiguity in the placement of the increments and an additional 161 fish were aged a second time, resulting in a total of 418 fish aged twice. Otoliths were rejected where the difference between the first and second reads was > 5%, resulting in six exclusions. Otolith analysis was utilized to determine the following ELHTs: post-settlement age (number of concentric increments after the settlement mark), pelagic larval duration (PLD; number of concentric increments from the primordium to the settlement mark), larval and juvenile growth rates (widths between consecutive increments), and size-at-age (otolith radius-at-each age, including settlement).
Summary of data from analyses of otoliths from\u00a0Stegastes partitus\u00a0collected from the Florida Keys.
Raw data were obtained directly from image processing software. This dataset includes the raw data that have not been manipulated. Please refer to the publications below for details on how these raw data were used.
\nSee two publications using these data:
\nRankin TL, & Sponaugle S. 2011. Temperature influences selective mortality during the early life stages of a coral reef fish. PLOS ONE 6: e16814. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016814
\nRankin TL, & Sponaugle S. (in review). Characteristics of settling coral reef fish are related to recruitment timing and success.
BCO-DMO Processing Notes:
\n- Modified format of dates;
\n- Modified parameter names;
\n- Replaced blanks with nd;
\n- Added 'site_name' field;
\n- Added 'site_lat' and 'site_lon' from coordinates provided on project metadata form.