Foraging specialisms influence space use and movement patterns of the European eel Anguilla anguilla

Abstract

(2015) 'Foraging specialisms inuence space use and movement patterns of the European eel Anguilla anguilla. ', Hydrobiologia., 766 (1). pp. 333-348. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2466-z Publisher's copyright statement:The nal publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2466-z Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. A fixed receiver array was used to examine the movement patterns and space use of the 34 European eel Anguilla anguilla in an oligotrophic Irish lake between July and September. We 35 assessed home range size, temporal change in spatial behaviour and activity patterns of broad 36 headed (n=11) and narrow headed (n=8) morphotypes. Broad-headed individuals displayed a 37 larger home range (mean KUD 95 (km 2 ):0.296 ± 0.04 S.E.) in comparison to narrow-headed 38 individuals (mean KUD 95 (km 2 ):0.143± 0.02 S.E.). Eel activity was strongly dependent on 39 light conditions. Narrow-headed individuals' movement peaks occurred at dawn and dusk in 40 comparison to broad-headed individuals which exhibited a more stable movement pattern 41 throughout night and into dawn, suggesting that narrow-headed eels are more crepuscular in 42 nature whereas broad-headed individuals are more nocturnal. Lunar phase period also 43 influenced eel movement within the lake. These results provide valuable insights into the 44 spatio-temporal distribution of yellow eels in a lake system, demonstrating that individuality 45 in foraging behaviour has direct influence on spatial patterns. 46 47

Using a telemetry study to assess the boundary net efficiency of an enclosure system used for yellow eel density monitoring

“…Previous studies reported that possible posthandling effects influence eel behaviour in the first time period after release (Barry et al., ; Simon et al., ). Accordingly, Barry et al.…”

“…Accordingly, Barry et al. () excluded all detections recorded 4 days after release in their study. In the current study, high movement activities were observed within the first 10 hr compared with the remaining period.…”

“…During its continental life period, the European eel is named yellow eel based on the colouring (Tesch, ). The growing phase of sedentary yellow eels is characterised by bottom foraging activities primarily conducted during the night (Baras, Jeandrain, Serouge & Philippart, ; Tesch, ) associated with varying home range sizes depending on environmental conditions and individual eel characteristics (e.g., Baras et al., ; Barry et al., ; Verhelst et al., ; Walker, Godard & Davison, ). However, basic knowledge gaps exist on the habitat utilisation in coastal waters (ICES, ).…”

“…However, applying such an approach could result in uncertain estimates as marked eels need to be recaptured within a certain time period. Therefore, a telemetry study approach could be applied to follow the movements of individually tagged yellow eels (Baras et al., ; Barry et al., ; Verhelst et al., ; Walker et al., ).…”

Feeding range of age 1+ year Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis in the Baltic Sea

“…g . using different habitats, foraging areas or specializing in different prey types (Schindler et al ., ; Iguchi et al ., ; Barry et al ., ). Such specialization could then result in geographically small‐scaled phenotypic differences, such as variation in growth or body condition.…”