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The shallow inshore areas of coastal lagoons function as nursery grounds for the early life stages of marine fish. Multi-species approaches and the assessment of several population variables are of great value in studies focused upon the ecological importance of estuarine systems as fish nursery areas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyse the spatial differences in the abundance, biomass, growth and condition indexes of juveniles from three marine species:Sparus aurata,Liza aurataandLiza ramada, in order to assess the nursery role of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon for these species. Results showed high spatial variability of the studied variables, with higher abundance and biomass values at those sites closest to the inlet connecting the lagoon with the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, there were significant relationships between the growth and condition of the fish with hydrographical circulation patterns within the lagoon, indicating the suitability of the Mar Menor as a nursery area for the three studied fish species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fish community that inhabits shallow littoral areas of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon was studied seasonally. Three different habitat types were compared: deep sandy habitats, vegetated habitats and shallow muddy habitats. The results indicated that the dominant fish families in the lagoon were Mugilidae, Gobiidae, Sparidae and Atherinidae. In general, vegetated habitats and shallow muddy habitats showed higher fish abundance, biomass and fish diversity than deep sandy habitats. Moreover, fish community structure differed significantly among habitats. Vegetated habitats and shallow muddy habitats seems to play an important nursery role, mainly for marine migrant species of the Mugilidae and Sparidae families, and constituted essential habitats for species of conservationist interest suchAphanius iberusandSyngnathus abaster. Deep sandy habitats were dominated by the resident gobyPomatoschistus marmoratus. These habitat-related differences are probably related to variations in structural complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]