Life‐history traits of temperate and thermophilic barracudas (Teleostei: Sphyraenidae) in the context of sea warming in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

This study indicated that the life-history traits of European barracuda Sphyraena sphyraena are apparently better suited to their environmental conditions compared to the more physically restricted life-history traits of the yellow-mouth barracuda Sphyraena viridensis, which co-habit the north-western Mediterranean Sea. The latter thermophilic species has a considerably higher reproductive potential as it invests its energy reserves in larger numbers of hydrated eggs per spawning batch. This would favour its population growth rates within the study area, especially if sea warming continues, in which case it is likely that the spawning phenology of this species would give it an advantage.

Links between parasitism, energy reserves and fecundity of European anchovy,Engraulis encrasicolus, in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

“…The values of fecundity reported in the present study are also coherent with other studies carried out with the European anchovy in the Adriatic Sea ( Casavola et al , 1996 ) or in the northeast Atlantic Ocean ( Sanz and Uriarte, 1989 ; Motos, 1996 ). The batch fecundity was positively related to total length, which means that larger individuals have a higher reproductive capacity than smaller ones, as is commonly the case with several northwestern Mediterranean commercial fish species ( Muñoz et al , 2005 ; Ferrer-Maza et al , 2014 , 2015 ; Villegas-Hernández et al , 2014 , 2015a , b ). In the present study, the size of all the immature anchovy specimens we examined exceeded 9 cm, which is currently the minimal landing size for anchovy in the Mediterranean Sea.…”

How a multidisciplinary approach involving ethnoecology, biology and fisheries can help explain the spatio‐temporal changes in marine fish abundance resulting from climate change

“…Overall, our results suggest that sea warming (0.032 °C year –1 for the upper 85 m of the water column on the northern Catalan shelf from 1974 to 2005; Vargas‐Yáñez et al ., ) is partly responsible for the observed changes in the spatio‐temporal abundance of warm‐water species. Other studies carried out in the Mediterranean support the theory that sea warming may be responsible for the northward spread and increasing abundance of thermophilic species such as Pomatomus saltatrix (Sabatés et al ., ), Sardinella aurita (Sabatés et al ., ), Lampris guttatus (Francour et al ., ) or Sphyraena viridensis (Villegas‐Hernández et al ., ). Nevertheless, the responsiveness of species to climate change involves interactions with various biotic and abiotic factors (Bates et al ., ) and therefore other issues, such as the establishment of marine reserves and the consequent reduction or prohibition of fishing in such areas, may have encouraged an increase in the populations of thermophilic fish species such as Diplodus cervinus cervinus and Epinephelus spp.…”

“…(Bodilis et al, 2003). Similarly, the northwards expansion of some warm-water predators, such as Sphyraena viridensis, may also be favoured by the better feeding conditions in the northern areas (Villegas-Hernández et al, 2014).…”

Twilight activity patterns and angling vulnerability of yellowmouth barracuda (Sphyraena viridensisCuvier, 1829), a range‐expanding thermophilic fish

“…The observed decreasing abundance of “boreal‐type”, cold‐water species and the simultaneous northwards diffusion of thermophilic taxa, once confined to the southern zone of the basin, is commonly known as “meridionalization” (Coll et al ., 2010; Lloret et al ., 2015). The enhanced abundance of southern predators and competitors may act itself as a driver of other species’ decline (Galil, 2007; Goren & Galil, 2005; Kalogirou et al ., 2012; Villegas‐Hernández et al ., 2014, 2015).…”

“…Among the numerous warm‐water fishes that have become established in the NW Mediterranean, the yellowmouth barracuda ( Sphyraena viridensis Cuvier, 1829) appears to be one of the most successful (Di Blasi et al ., 2013; Lloret et al ., 2015; Massutí et al ., 2001; Villegas‐Hernández et al ., 2014). Its distribution includes the NE Atlantic coast, the Macaronesian archipelagos and the Mediterranean Sea.…”