Dispersal of an exploited demersal fish species (Argyrosomus japonicus, Sciaenidae) inferred from satellite telemetry

Barnes, Thomas C.; Rogers, Paul; Wolf, Y.; Madonna, A.; Holman, Dirk; Ferguson, Greg J.; Hutchinson, Wayne; Loisier, Aude; Sortino, Dylan; Sumner, Michael; Gillanders, Bronwyn M.

doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3575-4

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The deployed archival tags yielded the first high-resolution data on the vertical habitat use of adult meagre in the wild and constitute the first direct and fisheries-independent evidence of this change in habitat use (see 26 for further details on the depth and temperature preferences of tagged A. regius ). These findings match the reduced winter growth and food intake rates observed in farmed specimens [ 52 ], and are also in line with the movement patterns reported for the congeneric A. japonicus in Australia [ 53 ] and in South Africa [ 54 ]. While impossible to confirm without dedicated feeding/diet analyses, this striking shift in behaviour and habitat usage may reflect differences in prey availability and abundance, with meagre feeding less intensively and/or targeting different prey types during winter months.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Long-distance migrations and seasonal movements of meagre (Argyrosomus regius), a large coastal predator, along the Iberian Peninsula coast

Gandra,

Winkler,

Afonso

et al. 2024

Mov Ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The meagre, Argyrosomus regius, is a large coastal predatory fish inhabiting waters from the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, where it is targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries. Previous genetic studies have found an unexpectedly high population differentiation not only between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but also along the Atlantic coast. However, the reasons underpinning this genetic barrier remained unclear. Likewise, even though the species is amongst the world’s largest marine teleosts, knowledge about its movement ecology and migratory behaviour remains notably scarce, and primarily reliant on fisheries-dependent data. Methods In this study, we used a combination of acoustic telemetry and pop-up satellite archival tags to investigate the movements of 22 adult meagre (70–143 cm total length) along the Southwestern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Results Our results strongly suggest that the previously reported genetic differentiation is not maintained by limited adult dispersal/movement, as hypothesized. On the contrary, we documented some of the longest individual annual migrations ever recorded for a coastal teleost, up to > 2000 km, with frequent back-and-forth movements between the West and Southern Iberian coasts. Moreover, their detected regional movement patterns support the existence of a marked seasonal behavioural shift, with individuals being less active and moving to deeper waters during winter, and are consistent with spawning philopatry associated to their summer reproductive movements. Finally, we identified putative aggregation areas that may harbour important feeding/overwintering grounds. Conclusions These findings shed new light on the movement and behaviour patterns of meagre that may be of particular importance for the conservation and spatial management of this species throughout its range, and open the door to further research on functional connectivity.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Long-distance migrations and seasonal movements of meagre (Argyrosomus regius), a large coastal predator, along the Iberian Peninsula coast

Gandra,

Winkler,

Afonso

et al. 2024

Mov Ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, Russell et al (2021a) and Russell et al (2021b), using otolith microchemical analysis, also identified important estuarine nursery areas, characterized by an abundance of prey items and reasonable freshwater inflow, for the successful recruitment of A. japonicus. In Australia, the populations are not always estuary-associated, with some individuals and populations being marine resident throughout their life-cycle (Ferguson et al, 2011;Barnes et al, 2016;Barnes et al, 2019). The variation in time spent in the turbid and odor cues by individual early life stage settlement-stage A. japonicus in the present study provides further evidence that the South African A. japonicus populations could also exist as separate estuarine and marine contingents, as proposed by Childs et al (2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…In Australia, although estuaries are critical nursery habitats for A. japonicus and recruitment is likely bolstered by access to turbid estuaries for certain populations there appears to be some plasticity in A. japonicus life history. A range of different research methods provide evidence that the populations are not entirely estuarine associated, with marine centric contingents that do not enter estuaries (Ferguson et al, 2011;Barnes et al, 2016;Barnes et al, 2019;Russell et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turbidity influences the recruitment of Argyrosomus japonicus to estuarine nurseries

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Estuaries serve as important nursery habitats for several coastal fishery species. The successful recruitment of larvae and early juveniles into estuaries is paramount for population persistence and maintenance. Several factors have been proposed as stimuli that could elicit a recruitment response in estuary-associated fish species. Larvae and early juveniles may trace land-based cues back to an estuary by following the olfactory concentration gradient or use other visual or acoustic stimuli. Argyrosomus japonicus is an iconic estuarine-associated species. Due to overfishing, reduced freshwater input and habitat degradation in their estuarine nursery habitat, the South African population has suffered severe stock declines. Turbidity associated with high freshwater input is thought to promote recruitment into estuaries. We used choice-chamber laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis that settlement-stage A. japonicus are attracted to turbidity rather than olfactory gradients when recruiting into estuaries. Three choice experiments (with three replicate trials each) were performed over three consecutive days. Each experiment used paired combinations of six estuarine/seawater types with varying turbidity and olfactory characteristics. For each experiment, three trials were repeated in succession with six new fish for each trial. Settlement-stage A. japonicus showed a significant preference for turbid water (with and without olfactory cues) over seawater (no olfactory cues) and clear estuary water (with olfactory cues). No clear choice was made between clear estuary water (with olfactory cues) and clear artificial seawater (without olfactory cues), suggesting that turbidity gradients are most likely the primary factor governing the recruitment of settlement-stage A. japonicus into estuaries.

show abstract

“…Also, tags are not always appropriate for smaller species or those that occur in deeper water. Further, tags usually provide few data points that, while informative for certain applications (e.g., determining if individuals use particular habitats, Barnes et al, 2019) have only recently reached population scales > 1,000 for a few commercially important species, such as Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) (Block, 2019). Inter-jurisdictional collaborations can alleviate some of these restrictions for producing populationscale tagging outputs on less valuable species, but for regionally isolated work the approach remains challenging (Sequeira et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting Geographic Ranges of Marine Animal Populations Using Stable Isotopes: A Case Study of Great Hammerhead Sharks in Eastern Australia

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Determining the geographic range of widely dispersed or migratory marine organisms is notoriously difficult, often requiring considerable costs and typically extensive tagging or exploration programs. While these approaches are accurate and can reveal important information on the species, they are usually conducted on only a small number of individuals and can take years to produce relevant results, so alternative approaches may be preferable. The presence of latitudinal gradients in stable carbon isotope compositions of marine phytoplankton offers a means to quickly determine likely geographic population ranges of species that rely on productivity from these resources. Across sufficiently large spatial and temporal scales, the stable carbon isotopes of large coastal or pelagic marine species should reflect broad geographic patterns of resource use, and could be used to infer geographic ranges of marine populations. Using two methods, one based on a global mechanistic model and the other on targeted low-cost latitudinal sampling of fishes, we demonstrate and compare these stable isotope approaches to determine the core population geography of an apex predator, the great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran). Both methods indicated similar geographic ranges and suggested that S. mokarran recorded in south-eastern Australia are likely to be from more northern Australian waters. These approaches could be replicated in other areas where coastlines span predictable geographic gradients in isotope values and be used to determine the core population geography of highly mobile species to inform management decisions.

show abstract

Dispersal of an exploited demersal fish species (Argyrosomus japonicus, Sciaenidae) inferred from satellite telemetry

Cited by 9 publications

References 34 publications

Long-distance migrations and seasonal movements of meagre (Argyrosomus regius), a large coastal predator, along the Iberian Peninsula coast

Long-distance migrations and seasonal movements of meagre (Argyrosomus regius), a large coastal predator, along the Iberian Peninsula coast

Turbidity influences the recruitment of Argyrosomus japonicus to estuarine nurseries

Predicting Geographic Ranges of Marine Animal Populations Using Stable Isotopes: A Case Study of Great Hammerhead Sharks in Eastern Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About