Abstract: Coastal and estuarine habitat destruction has been taking place on a large scale and it is recognised as one of the major threats to biodiversity, structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. However, the degree and rate of change and its impact on fish communities is still poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that historical habitat changes have the potential to affect the overall attractiveness of estuarine habitats for fish, by quantifying: i) the changes in habitat structure of an estuarine area over a period of 80 years, and ii) the attractiveness of each habitat and overall estuarine area for fish communities and potential implications of the changes observed.