ABSTRACT: For many decades, the role of estuaries as important nursery areas for fishes was accepted as fact by scientists and environmental managers. At the turn of the 21^st century, a question mark was raised in relation to the reduced predation component of the nursery function, with some scientists contending that both large and small piscivorous fish species had access to the estuarine habitats that juvenile fishes in estuaries occupied. If true on a global scale, the nursery designation for these habitats would be compromised and the long-held paradigm that estuaries are important nursery areas for fishes would need to be revised. In this review, I examine the nature of fish nursery areas in estuarine littoral habitats from a mainly predation perspective and, based on a variety of ichthyofaunal and avifaunal studies, come to the conclusion that apart from a few selected estuarine systems, there is limited predation on juvenile fishes in these particular areas. This, coupled with the abundant suitable food resources for juvenile fish from different trophic categories, shelter from high-energy marine wave action and biological connectivity between a variety of submerged and emergent macrophyte communities, renders shallow estuarine littoral areas ideal nursery areas for the juveniles of mostly euryhaline marine fish species, the dominant component of estuarine ichthyofaunas globally. In addition, there are strong indications from the fossil record that these littoral estuarine nursery areas have been functioning since the Devonian, more than 350 million years ago.

中文翻译：

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沿海栖息地作为河口鱼类物种的主要育苗区：强化了减少捕食范式

摘要：几十年来，河口作为鱼类重要育苗区的作用已为科学家和环境管理人员所接受。在21^世纪之交二十世纪，人们提出了一个关于减少苗圃功能的捕食成分的问号，一些科学家认为，不论大小，食鱼性鱼类都可以进入河口栖息地，而河口栖息地是幼鱼所占据的。如果在全球范围内都是如此，那么这些栖息地的苗圃名称将受到损害，长期以来一直认为河口是鱼类重要苗圃地区的范例将需要修改。在这篇综述中，我主要从捕食的角度考察了河口沿岸栖息地鱼类育苗场的性质，并基于各种鱼鳞鱼类和鸟类研究，得出的结论是，除少数选定的河口系统外，捕食活动有限在这些特定区域的幼鱼身上。这个，再加上丰富的营养资源，适合不同营养类别的幼鱼，避开高能海浪作用以及各种淹没的和新兴的大型植物群落之间的生物连通性，使得浅河口沿岸地区成为大多数鱼腥藻幼体的理想育苗区。海洋鱼类，是全球河口鱼类的主要组成部分。此外，化石记录中有很强的迹象表明，这些沿海河口育苗场自泥盆纪（距今超过3.5亿年前）开始运转。使得浅河口沿岸地区成为理想的苗圃地区，是大多数淡水marine鱼类的幼体，这是全球河口鱼component的主要组成部分。此外，化石记录中有很强的迹象表明，这些沿海河口育苗场自泥盆纪（距今超过3.5亿年前）开始运转。使得浅河口沿岸地区成为理想的苗圃地区，是大多数淡水marine鱼类的幼体，这是全球河口鱼component的主要组成部分。此外，化石记录中有很强的迹象表明，这些沿海河口育苗场自泥盆纪（距今超过3.5亿年前）开始运转。