Habitat utilization of adult blue marlin (<i>Makaira nigricans</i>) generated from electronic tag deployments A) before (2007–2009) and B) after (2010) the DH oil spill.

<p>Probability density (cell size = 0.01°) was calculated from daily mean position estimates during the months of May to July (spawning season). For clarity, only 90% of the utilization distribution was projected. ▴ denotes location of Deepwater Horizon platform. Gray shading on plots represents cumulative oil coverage through July 30^th 2010, derived from daily oil spill coverage accessed from <a href="http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov" target="_blank">www.nesdis.noaa.gov</a> and combined within ArcGIS.</p

Estimated areal coverage (km²) of high quality (HQ) early life habitat available for blackfin tuna (<i>Thunnus atlanticus</i>), blue marlin (<i>Makaira nigricans),</i> dolphinfish (<i>Coryphaena hippurus</i>), and sailfish (<i>Istiophorus platypterus</i>) in both June and July, 2010.

<p>Areal coverage of surface oil within HQ habitat also provided along with estimates of percent overlap between HQ habitat and surface oil. HQ habitat defined as probability of occurrence ≥0.50.</p

Summary data on the density [larvae⋅ 1000 m⁻³ (±1 standard deviation)] and percent occurrence of blackfin tuna (<i>Thunnus atlanticus</i>), blue marlin (<i>Makaira nigricans),</i>dolphinfish (<i>Coryphaena hippurus</i>), and sailfish (<i>Istiophorus platypterus</i>).

<p>Larvae were collected during ichthyoplankton surveys conducted in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2007 to 2010. Numbers of stations sampled each survey are also provided.</p

Explanatory variables retained in final presence/absence generalized additive models (GAMs) for blackfin tuna (<i>Thunnus atlanticus</i>), blue marlin (<i>Makaira nigricans),</i> dolphinfish (<i>Coryphaena hippurus</i>), and sailfish (<i>Istiophorus platypterus</i>).

<p>Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) and percent deviance explained (DE) are given for each final model. ΔAIC values are based on the difference if the variable was excluded from the final model.</p