Coastal rivers provide habitat for fishes that have developed life-history strategies to take advantage of low salinity and high structural complexity. The coastal rivers of southeastern Florida have been ranked high for restoration at a national scale by conservationists because of the great potential for projects to benefit both human assets and aquatic communities. To help prioritize projects, a fisheries-independent monitoring dataset was analyzed to identify fish habitat using hotspot analysis and habitat suitability. An initial examination testing for broad seasonal changes (high vs. low freshwater inflow) in species distributions showed little change; thus, we concluded that static habitat (e.g., geomorphological features, shore types) was important for supporting fishes in this system. A river section, North Fork St. Lucie River, located 23–45 km from the river mouth and comprised of braided river channels and mangrove backwaters was a hotspot for economically important species such as common snook and red drum. The same river stretch supported a suite of regionally unique tropical species including opossum pipefish, smallscale fat snook, and bigmouth sleeper that had affinities for low salinity. Species were partitioned within this river stretch by salinity, depth, and shore type (e.g., smallscale fat snook compared to common snook used shorelines that were fresher, deeper, and had fewer mangroves). Restoration efforts can be prioritized by (1) maintaining low salinity (< 15) and reconnecting floodplains and riverine backwaters in the North Fork St. Lucie River, an area comprised of fish hotspots, and (2) exploring strategies to improve fish habitat in other areas currently less used.

沿海河流为已制定生活史策略以利用低盐度和高结构复杂性的鱼类提供栖息地。佛罗里达州东南部的沿海河流在全国范围内被自然资源保护者列为高修复项目，因为项目具有造福人类资产和水生社区的巨大潜力。为了帮助确定项目的优先级，分析了一个独立于渔业的监测数据集，以使用热点分析和栖息地适宜性来识别鱼类栖息地。对物种分布的广泛季节性变化（淡水流入量高与低）的初步检查表明变化不大；因此，我们得出结论，静态栖息地（例如，地貌特征、海岸类型）对于支持该系统中的鱼类很重要。一条河段，北叉圣露西河，位于距河口 23-45 公里处，由辫状河道和红树林回水组成，是常见的斯诺克和红鼓等经济重要物种的热点。同一河流段支持了一系列区域独特的热带物种，包括负鼠尖嘴鱼、小型肥鼻鱼和与低盐度有密切关系的大嘴鱼。该河流段内的物种按盐度、深度和海岸类型划分（例如，与普通斯诺克相比，小型肥斯诺克使用的海岸线更新鲜、更深、红树林更少）。可以通过以下方式优先开展恢复工作：（1）保持低盐度（< 15）并重新连接北叉圣露西河的洪泛平原和河流回水，该地区由鱼类热点组成，