Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 13: 281–325, 2003. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 281 Fish communities of estuarine salt marshes of eastern North America, and comparisons with temperate estuaries of other continents Frank G. Nordlie Department of Zoology, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118525, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525, USA (Phone: (352) 392-2499; Fax: (352) 392-3704; E-mail: nordlie@zoo.ufl.edu) Accepted 9 September 2003 Contents Abstract page 281 Introduction 282 Materials and methods 283 Salt marshes Geographic regions covered Findings and discussion 286 Estuarine salt marsh fishes from eastern North America Life history patterns of salt marsh fishes Cape Cod as a zoogeographic boundary The Florida peninsula as a zoogeographic boundary Seasonal patterns of abundance and diversity Times of reproduction Temperature and salinity relationships Temperature x salinity, and other environmental interactions Nonindigenous species in salt marshes Profile of estuarine salt marsh resident fishes – eastern North America Fishes of estuaries of western Europe Fishes common to estuaries of eastern North America and western Europe Comparisons of life history groupings among continents Fish families common to estuaries on four continents Applications Summary/Conclusions 317 Acknowledgements 318 References 319 Key words: estuarine fishes, life history characteristics, nonindigenous species, salinity and temperature tolerances Abstract Twenty eastern North American estuarine/salt marsh locations, for which published inventories of inhabiting fishes were available, were selected for study. The geographic range of systems extended from south Texas on the west; North River, FL. on the south; to Prince Edward Island, Canada on the east; and James and Hudson Bays, Canada at the north. A total of 237(±) species of fishes were associated with these systems. Life history groupings included: permanent residents (9.3%); marine nursery species (17.7%); diadromous fishes (5.5%); marine transients (52.3%); and freshwater transients (15.2%). The most widely distributed species were primarily permanent residents and marine nursery species. The fraction of resident species did not vary significantly over the latitudinal range, but the fraction of marine migratory (MN + MT) species decreased with latitude. An increasing fraction of diadromous (anadromous) species may compensate for the decreasing fraction of marine migratory species. Permanent residents, marine nursery species, and marine transients all showed extended periods of spawn-