Jaci Martinez

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gardiner, Jayne

Area of Concentration

Marine Biology

Abstract

This preliminary study tested the efficacy of the spider block, a fish aggregating device popular in the media. It has been claimed that the spider block, or poly shrub, will increase fish populations by providing a habitat and protection for juvenile and prey fish. In order to test whether or not fish were attracted to the device, a tank was visually separated in half and three trials were run: a trial with no spider block, a trial with a spider block on the left side of the tank, and a trial with a spider block on the right side of the tank. Counts of juvenile striped mojarra, Eugerres plumieri, were compared between the sides at 30-minute increments over 6 hours for each of the trials. The experiment resulted in insufficient evidence to determine if spider blocks effectively acted as a fish aggregating device. This lack of sufficient evidence may be partially due to the underlying factor of the fish’s preference for one side of the tank over the other.

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