The effects of sex, stock, and environment on the shape of known-age Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) otoliths from the Faroe Islands were investigated. Moreover, the feasibility of otolith shape analysis for stock identification was evaluated. The shape was described by using several normalized Fourier descriptors and morphometric variables. There were no consistent differences between the left and right otoliths and between sexes within different age classes, stocks, and environments. With our experimental design, we could evaluate the relative importance of genetic and environmental conditions (water temperature and diet regime) on otolith shape and morphometrics. Using otolith shape, cod individuals were significantly separated into Bank and Plateau stocks. Total classification success was between 79% and 85% between stocks and between 85% and 96% between environments for the different age classes. The significant differences in otolith shape between Faroe Bank and Faroe Plateau cod stocks provided a phenotypic basis for stock separation. Stock and environmental influences were substantial in determining the shape of cod otoliths.

Recruitment of European eels (Anguilla anguilla) has declined to the extent that they have been added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that eels complete their outward river migration in order to contribute to the available spawning stock. We conducted a 4-year (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) telemetry study to understand the migratory behaviour and potential impact of environmental factors on the eel during this critical life stage.Out of 399 female eels tagged with acoustic transmitters, only 28% demonstrated clear downstream migratory behaviour. Fifty-five percent were detected exhibiting no downstream migration behaviour and 17% were not detected at any monitoring station. Movement patterns of downstream-migrating (silver) eels were characterized by nocturnal activity and seasonal migration, with distinct peaks in autumn and spring. Migration was often discontinuous and exhibited phases of active locomotion and expanded stopovers. The most important determinants of movement activity were water temperature, cumulative precipitation and moonlight, although the significance varied by season and location in the river basin.Our results evidence a discontinuous, stepwise migration over an extended period. Furthermore, our findings indicate that migration success depends on holding duration prior to tagging and environmental predictors with varying importance depending on the season, as well as the locations of capture, tagging and release.

Fine‐scale underwater telemetry affords an unprecedented opportunity to understand how aquatic animals respond to environmental changes. We investigated the movement patterns of an aquatic top predator, Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), using a three‐dimensional acoustic telemetry system installed in Kleiner Döllnsee (25 ha), a small, shallow, mesotrophic natural lake. Adult piscivorous perch (N = 16) were tagged and tracked in the whole lake at a minimum of 9‐s intervals over the course of one year. Perch increased swimming activity with higher water temperature and light intensity. Air pressure, wind speed and lunar phase also explained perch movements, but the effects were substantially smaller compared to temperature and light. Perch showed a strong diel pattern in activity, with farther swimming distances and larger activity spaces during the daytime, compared to the night‐time. To investigate the influence of prey distribution, we sampled the prey fish in both littoral and pelagic zones in both day and night monthly using gill nets. We found that the prey fish underwent diel horizontal migration, using the littoral zone during the day and the pelagic zone during the night. However, perch showed the opposite patterns, suggesting either that the prey fish avoided predation risk or that the horizontal diel migration of perch was driven by other mechanisms. Our results collectively suggest that the movement ecology of piscivorous perch is mainly governed by a foraging motivation as a function of abiotic variables, especially temperature and light.

Traditional age reading is a rather subjective method that lacks true reproducibility, producing ageing error that propagates up to stock assessment. One alternative is represented by the use of otolith morphometrics as a predictor of age. An important issue with such a method is that it requires known-age fish individuals. Here we used known-age Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) from the Faroe Bank and Faroe Plateau stocks. Cod populations usually show quite large variation in growth rates and otolith shape. We showed that including otolith morphometrics into ageing processes has the potential to make ageing objective, accurate, and fast. Calibration analysis indicated that a known-age sample from the same population and environment is needed to obtain robust calibration; using a sample from a different stock more than doubles the error rate, even in the case of genetically highly related populations. The intercalibration method was successful but generalization from one stock to another remains problematic. The development of an otolith growth model is needed for generalization if an operational method for different populations is required in the future.