Evidence for spatial limitation of the bluestripe snapper Lutjanus kasmira in French Polynesia from parasite and otolith shape analysis

The study focused on small‐scale location and movement patterns of the bluestripe snapper Lutjanus kasmira on the north coast of Moorea (Society Archipelago, French Polynesia, south‐central Pacific). Juveniles of this species occur in the estuary, and adults occur widely in the lagoon, the outer slope and in the intermediate channel, where fish aggregate in large schools during daytime. While fish were all sampled within a few hundred metres, they exhibited significantly different parasite fauna and otolith shapes according to their locality: estuary, lagoon, channel and outer slope. While juveniles did not exhibit any parasites in the estuary parasitological and otolith‐shape data suggest that adults rarely move between their three adjoining habitats, and more interestingly that large aggregations in the channel are formed predominantly by resident individuals with limited local movement, including at night. Besides giving some information on the host biology, such findings may have application in local fisheries management.