Larval fish have been shown to vertically migrate with ontogeny, a behaviour that influences their dispersal by exposing the larvae to currents with different velocities at different stages of development. Most studies have focused on studying the vertical migration of tropical reef fishes, that have been shown in general to migrate downwards with ontogeny. Here we investigated if similar ontogenetic vertical migration patterns also occur for seven families of temperate reef fish along the eastern coast of Australia, sampling at three depth ranges (0–1 m, 5–50 m, 51–100 m) across sixteen stations along the continental shelf, and eight within cold-core eddies. Larval fish were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible, their standard length measured, and ontogenetic stage classified to preflexion, flexion or postflexion. Generalised linear models were used to determine if the larval fish exhibited patterns of vertical migration with ontogeny and length. Four families (Labridae, Serranidae, Scorpaenidae, and Synodontidae) exhibited a downwards migration with ontogeny similar to vertical distribution patterns seen in tropical reef fish studies, Mullidae displayed different vertical migration patterns within eddies compared to coastal waters, and two families showed no ontogenetic vertical migration (Pomacentridae and Scaridae). For all families other than Scaridae, the larvae inside an eddy were longer suggesting larval retention. The vertical migration patterns observed, while varying among taxa, show that reef-associated larval fish off the eastern Australian coast do change their depth with ontogeny. The results of this study will be useful in parameterising connectivity modelling studies for these temperate reef-associated families.

幼虫鱼已显示出随个体发育而垂直迁移，这种行为通过将幼虫暴露于不同发育阶段的不同速度的水流中而影响其扩散。大多数研究集中于研究热带礁鱼的垂直迁移，这些研究通常显示随着个体发育向下迁移。在这里，我们调查了澳大利亚东部沿海的7个温带礁鱼科是否也发生了类似的自生垂直迁移模式，并在沿16个站点的三个深度范围（0–1 m，5–50 m，51–100 m）采样大陆架和八个冷核涡流。确定幼体鱼类的分类标准尽可能低，测量其标准长度，并将成鱼阶段分为屈曲，屈曲或屈曲后。使用广义线性模型来确定幼体鱼是否表现出具有个体发育和长度的垂直迁移模式。与热带珊瑚鱼研究中的垂直分布模式相似，四个科（Labridae，Serranidae，Scorpaenidae和Synodontidae）的个体发生向下迁移，与沿海水域相比，Mullidae在涡流中显示出不同的垂直迁移模式，并且两个科没有显示成因垂直迁徙（Pomacentridae和Scaridae）。对于除Scaridae以外的所有家庭，漩涡内的幼虫更长，表明幼虫会滞留。观察到的垂直迁移模式，尽管在分类单元中有所不同，但表明澳大利亚东海岸外与珊瑚礁相关的幼体鱼的确随着个体发生而改变了它们的深度。