Residence, Habitat Use, and Movement Patterns of Atlantic Tripletail in the Ossabaw Sound Estuary, Georgia

Atlantic Tripletails Lobotes surinamensis support a popular recreational fishery along the coast of Georgia; however, Atlantic Tripletail residency and movements within Georgia estuaries have not been studied. Our objective was to describe estuarine movements and residency of Atlantic Tripletails in the Ossabaw Sound Estuary, Georgia. During summer in 2010 and 2011, large juvenile and adult Atlantic Tripletails (n = 32; 42.1–71.0 cm TL) were captured with traditional angling methods and received surgically implanted ultrasonic transmitters. Tagged individuals were detected within the estuary via a stationary array of acoustic receivers that monitored the estuary continuously from June 2010 through May 2012. Manual tracking was conducted with a portable hydrophone and homing. Atlantic Tripletails were detected in the estuary during March–November at sustained water temperatures above 21° C; tagged fish were not detected by the stationary array during any other period. Movements were highly correlated with tidal stage; 100% of the tagged fish moved upstream with flood tides and returned to the sound with the ebbing tide on a daily basis. Atlantic Tripletails were observed as far upstream as river kilometer 33. Our results from acoustic telemetry provide the first information on spatial and temporal habitat use by Atlantic Tripletails within the South Atlantic Bight and suggest that these fish (1) exhibit a high degree of residency in Georgia estuaries and (2) use a large portion of the estuary during their daily movements. Although estuarine habitat use appeared to be an important component of the species' life history, future studies of population dynamics and winter movements will be needed to obtain a better understanding of the potentially complex structure of Atlantic Tripletail stocks.