Daily Otolith Increments in the Early Stages of Tropical Fish

Sponaugle, Su

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5775-5_4

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…The appearance of AP does not constitute evidence of metamorphosis itself because they appear either as pre- (Linkowski 1991;Suthers 1996) or posttransformational structures (Brothers 1984;Campana 1984), and thus may only indicate a habitat shift. For example, such secondary primordia are evident in the pelagic juvenile starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) when they shift from a pelagic to demersal habitat (Campana 1984) (Modin et al 1996;Neuman et al 2001;Correia et al 2006;Sponaugle 2009). An abrupt habitat shift is observed in some myctophid larvae species just before metamorphosis, when they initiate a downward migration to the depths within the mesopelagic zone (Gartner 1991a;Sassa et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Larval stage duration, age and growth of blue lanternfish Tarletonbeania crenularis (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880) derived from otolith microstructure

2010

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Tarletonbeania crenularis specimens were collected off Oregon in 2006 and 2009 and aged by enumeration of growth increments in otoliths (sagittae). Three microstructural zones were evident in the otoliths of juvenile and adult fish: central, middle, and external. The number of increments in the central zone are thought to be deposited during the larval phase which is restricted to the uppermost 350 m water layer. The middle zone constituted of barely visible increments, most likely represented a non-migratory behavior of transforming larvae and early juvenile stages. Well defined growth increments were found in the external zone which was presumably formed during extensive vertical migrations of juvenile and adult fish. If the enumerated increments were deposited daily, as previously validated for other myctophid species, the examined individuals indicated a shorter life span than has been formerly reported on the basis of length frequency analysis. The otolith microstructure interpretation was supported by otolith size to fish length proportions and somatic growth of larvae and postlarval fish. Otolith length to standard length relation was described by linear regression models for larvae and postlarval migratory stages with an abrupt disruption between these two groups. The number of growth increments in otoliths plotted against standard length showed a curvilinear growth for larvae and for the postlarval fish. The lack of information on the size at age of transforming larvae and non-migratory early juveniles did not allow us to estimate a complete growth model for T. crenularis. However, a pronounced decrease in growth between larval and postlarval migratory phases was distinguished. The uncoupling of otolith and somatic growth was interpreted as a merged effect of downward migration of larvae to the mesopelagic transformation depth, prolonged stay of transforming larvae and early juveniles at this depth without performing diel vertical migrations, and shrinkage during metamorphosis. Back-calculated hatch dates suggests a prolonged spawning season of this species without any distinct peak.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Larval stage duration, age and growth of blue lanternfish Tarletonbeania crenularis (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880) derived from otolith microstructure

2010

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“…As with any tool, otolith microstructure analysis is not without problems and requires careful use and interpretation [see technical reviews such as Panfili et al (2002, 2009), Sponaugle (2009, Vigliola and Meekan (2009) for details], but when applied appropriately, results can provide unique data to reveal processes in the ocean and inform the management of marine ecosystems. When otolith microstructure data are combined with data from other disciplines, it is apparent that detailed age and growth records can help pinpoint key events occurring during the earliest stages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith microstructure reveals ecological and oceanographic processes important to ecosystem-based management

Sponaugle

2010

Environ Biol Fish

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Information obtained from fish otoliths has been a critical component of fisheries management for decades. The nature of this information has changed over time as management goals and approaches have shifted. The earliest and still most pervasively used data are those of annual age and growth used to calculate the demographic rates of populations in single-species management strategies. Over time, the absence of simple stock-recruitment relationships has focused attention on the youngest stages, where otolith microstructure resolved on a daily basis has become a valuable tool. As management has transitioned to more ecosystem-based approaches, the need to understand ecological and oceanographic processes has been advanced through the analysis of daily otolith microstructure. Recent field examples illustrate how otolith microstructure data have been used to reveal environmental influences on larval growth, traits that lead to higher survivorship, mechanisms of larval transport, dynamics of dispersal and population connectivity, determinants of recruitment magnitude, carry-over processes between life stages, habitatspecific juvenile survival, and identification of natal sources. Daily otolith-derived data collected at an individual level are increasingly combined with data from other disciplines and incorporated into individualbased models, which in turn can form the building blocks of complex models of ecosystem dynamics. A mechanistic understanding of the ecology of young stages is particularly necessary in light of a rapidly changing ocean environment, as we need to be able to predict individual and population responses to perturbations. Otolith microstructure analysis is an important tool in our management arsenal, contributing to a broader understanding of the oceanographic and ecological processes underlying ecosystem dynamics.

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“…While it has been hypothesised that lower PLDs improve larval survivorship by reducing exposure to predation in the plankton (Sponaugle 2009), within-cohort analyses of damselfishes have shown no differences between the PLD of post-recruitment survivors and the initial pool of settlers (Nemeth 2005;), indicating no post-settlement survival-related benefits of shorter PLDs. Similarly, we observed a statistically significant but non-influential (R 2 = 0.016) effect of TL on PLD of C. vagabundus.…”

Section: Implications Of Spatial Consistency In Pre-settlement Characmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pelagic larval duration and settlement size of a reef fish are spatially consistent, but post-settlement growth varies at the reef scale

2015

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Recent research has demonstrated that, despite a pelagic larval stage, many coral reef fishes disperse over relatively small distances, leading to well-connected populations on scales of 0-30 km. Although variation in key biological characteristics has been explored on the scale of 100-1000 s of km, it has rarely been explored at the scale relevant to actual larval dispersal and population connectivity on ecological timescales. In this study, we surveyed the habitat and collected specimens (n = 447) of juvenile butterflyfish, Chaetodon vagabundus, at nine sites along an 80-km stretch of coastline in the central Philippines to identify variation in key life history parameters at a spatial scale relevant to population connectivity. Mean pelagic larval duration (PLD) was 24.03 d (SE = 0.16 d), and settlement size was estimated to be 20.54 mm total length (TL; SE = 0.61 mm). Both traits were spatially consistent, although this PLD is considerably shorter than that reported elsewhere. In contrast, post-settlement daily growth rates, calculated from otolith increment widths from 1 to 50 d post-settlement, varied strongly across the study region. Elevated growth rates were associated with rocky habitats that this species is known to recruit to, but were strongly negatively correlated with macroalgal cover and exhibited negative density dependence with conspecific juveniles. Larger animals had lower early (first 50 d postsettlement) growth rates than smaller animals, even after accounting for seasonal variation in growth rates. Both VBGF and Gompertz models provided good fits to postsettlement size-at-age data (n = 447 fish), but the VBGF's estimate of asymptotic length (L ? = 168 mm) was more consistent with field observations of maximum fish length. Our findings indicate that larval characteristics are consistent at the spatial scale at which populations are likely well connected, but that site-level biological differences develop post-settlement, most likely as a result of key differences in quality of recruitment habitat.

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Daily Otolith Increments in the Early Stages of Tropical Fish

Cited by 28 publications

References 107 publications

Larval stage duration, age and growth of blue lanternfish Tarletonbeania crenularis (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880) derived from otolith microstructure

Larval stage duration, age and growth of blue lanternfish Tarletonbeania crenularis (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880) derived from otolith microstructure

Otolith microstructure reveals ecological and oceanographic processes important to ecosystem-based management

Pelagic larval duration and settlement size of a reef fish are spatially consistent, but post-settlement growth varies at the reef scale

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