Preference of early juveniles of a coral reef fish for distinct lagoonal microhabitats is not related to common measures of structural complexity.

The article discusses findings of a study which investigated the role of solely habitat complexity in microhabitat preference by early juvenile fish. The different microhabitats tested included enclosures and isolation from other abiotic and biotic variables. In other studies, one determinant of the nursery value of a habitat is the presence of structure per se. This study revealed that fish preferred seagrass or coral habitats which are independent of common measures of structural complexity. This finding does not support the hypothesis that in isolation of factors like predation or competition, structural complex microhabitat is mostly preferred by fish.