Abstract
This study evaluated the fish community structure of the Miami Marine Stadium basin in Virginia Key, Florida during the wet season. This study had 4 major objectives: 1) create a baseline for fish community composition, 2) assess biodiversity (species richness, total abundance, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and species evenness), 3) compare biodiversity to data from nearby sites (Crandon Park and Hobie Beach), and 4) examine potential influences on biodiversity (bait type, tidal cycle, time of day, number of vessels producing wake, depth, and water temperature). The Miami Marine Stadium basin is a U-shaped water body with about a 3.5-kilometer perimeter sitting atop patchy areas of seagrass, algae, and mud. The marina experiences heavy recreational boat traffic and was sampled with a baited remote underwater video (BRUV) system. From April to September 2022, 30 hours of footage were collected at
various spots around the basin. Data collected serves as a baseline fish community survey, as this area has never been comprehensively sampled before. Results suggested that the Miami Marine Stadium basin is primarily habitat for carnivorous fishes classified by the IUCN as “least concern”. Checkered puffer Sphoeroides testudineus, grunt Haemulon spp.*, mojarra
Eucinostomus spp.**, and mangrove snapper Lutjanus griseus, were the most commonly sampled fish, each occurring in over 50% of videos. Fish from genuses Sphoeroides, Eucinostomus, and Haemulon were the first taxa to arrive in 90% of the videos. However, fish from genuses Alennes, Lagodon, and Diapterus had the lowest mean times to first arrival. Compared to nearby sites, the Miami Marine Stadium basin had a higher mean species evenness and a similar mean Shannon-Wiener diversity index. Tidal cycles, bait type, number of vessels producing a wake over the deployment period, and water depth had no significant impacts on biodiversity metrics or fish arrival times. Time of day had an influence only on species evenness, which was significantly lower in the morning. The water temperature did not impact biodiversity but did impact fish arrival times, which were shorter at higher temperatures. Results from this study serve as baseline information for fish community composition at the Miami Marine Stadium basin as well as providing relevant data for marine biodiversity in highly human-impacted areas in South Florida.