Geographical and seasonal changes of the prey species of minke whale in the Northwestern Pacific

Tamura, Tsutomu; Fujise, Yoshihiro

doi:10.1006/jmsc.2002.1199

Cited by 40 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The estimated instantaneous biomass for T. Pacificus is between 2-5 million tonnes. From an ecological perspective, the Japanese common squid plays a critical role in marine food webs, serving as an important prey species for numerous marine vertebrates [7] and an opportunistic predator of small fishes and cephalopods [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Habitat Patterns of Japanese Common Squid (Todarodes Pacificus) Inferred from Satellite-Based Species Distribution Models

et al. 2016

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Abstract:The understanding of the spatio-temporal distributions of the species habitat in the marine environment is central to effectual resource management and conservation. Here, we examined the potential habitat distributions of Japanese common squid (Todarodes pacificus) in the Sea of Japan during a four-year period. The seasonal patterns of preferential habitat were inferred from species distribution models, built using squid occurrences detected from night-time visible images and remotely-sensed environmental factors. The predicted squid habitat (i.e., areas with high habitat suitability) revealed strong seasonal variability, characterized by a reduction of potential habitat, confined off of the southern part of the basin during the winter-spring period (December-May). Apparent expansion of preferential habitat occurred during summer-autumn months (June-November), concurrent with the formation of highly suitable habitat patches in certain regions of the Sea of Japan. These habitat distribution patterns were in response to changes in oceanographic conditions and synchronous with seasonal migration of squid. Moreover, the most important variables regulating the spatio-temporal patterns of suitable habitat were sea surface temperature, depth, sea surface height anomaly, and eddy kinetic energy. These variables could affect the habitat distributions through their impacts on growth and survival of squid, local nutrient transport, and the availability of favorable spawning and feeding grounds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Habitat Patterns of Japanese Common Squid (Todarodes Pacificus) Inferred from Satellite-Based Species Distribution Models

et al. 2016

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“…Todarodes pacificus (Steenstrup 1880) is a squid with second largest mass of commercial landings in the world (351,229 metric tons; Arkhipkin et al, 2015;FAO, 2014) and is an important prey species for a variety of vertebrate predators (Ohizumi et al, 2000;Tamura and Fujise, 2002), yet a full understanding of its life history is hampered because observation is difficult at the depths at which spawning occurs. Naturally spawned egg masses of T. pacificus have never been found in the hypothesized spawning ground.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations on the spawning behavior, egg masses and paralarval development of the ommastrephid squid Todarodes pacificus in a laboratory mesocosm

Puneeta

Vijai

Yoo

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The spawning behavior of ommastrephid squids has never been observed under natural conditions. Previous laboratory observations of Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus) suggest that prespawning females might rest on the continental shelf or slope before they ascend above the pycnocline to spawn, and that the egg masses might settle in the pycnocline. Here, two mesocosm experiments were conducted in a 300 m 3 tank that was 6 m deep to investigate this hypothesis. In the first experiment, a thermocline (2.5-3.5 m) was established in the tank by creating a thermally stratified (17-22°C) water column. In the second experiment, the temperature was uniform (22°C) at all depths. Prior to spawning, females did not rest on the tank floor. In the stratified water column, egg masses remained suspended in the thermocline, but in an unstratified water column, they settled on the tank bottom, collapsed and were infested by microbes, resulting in abnormal or nonviable embryos. Eleven females spawned a total of 18 egg masses (17-80 cm in diameter), indicating that females can spawn more than once when under stress. Paralarvae hatched at stage 30/31 and survived for up to 10 days, allowing us to observe the most advanced stage of paralarvae in captivity. Paralarvae survived after consumption of the inner yolk, suggesting they might have fed in the tank.

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“…In the laboratory, intact prey and remains such as fish otoliths and crustaceans were identified to the lowest possible taxon using gross morphological characteristics (Tamura and Fujise, 2002). The total weight of each prey species before ingestion in the subsample was then estimated by multiplying the average weight of fresh specimens by the estimated number of individuals based on remains in the stomach.…”

Section: Stomach Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As many previous diet studies have reported, large balaenopterid species feed on aggregated near surface fish, squids and crustaceans (Nemoto, 1959;Nemoto and Kawamura, 1977;Kawamura, 1982). Although minke whale also feed on variety of prey types including larger fish, such as walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), Japanese pomfret (Brama japonica) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in addition to the small pelagic fish (Haug, et al, 1995;Lindstrøm, 1998;Tamura and Fujise, 2002), the majority of prey species were small pelagic fish, such as anchovy and saury, throughout the whole study area.…”

Section: What Determines the Diet Of Whales In Spatiotemporal Scale?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This program provided both qualitative and quantitative data on the feeding ecology of minke whales. The results showed that the minke whale feed on many prey types ranging from small crustaceans to large fish Tamura and Fujise, 2002), and many of these prey are also targeted by Japanese fisheries. The Second Phase of JARPN (JARPN II) expanded sampling to other whales such as sei, Bryde's, and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), which are species with a large biomass and likely play an important role in the ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Konishi¹,

Tamura²,

Isoda³

et al. 2009

J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci.

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Stomach contents analysis showed that the three whale species are highly dependent on small pelagic fish, i.e. Japanese anchovy, Pacific saury and mackerels in addition to copepods and euphausiids. Pianka's niche overlap index showed high diet overlap among whale species that occur in some areas where they feed on pelagic fish. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated environmental and biological factors significantly contribute to the diet composition of whales. CCA also explained the distribution patterns of whales in relation to SST, chlorophyll a concentration and geographical variation. These analyses demonstrated that the diet composition of the baleen whales is determined by spatio-temporal environmental factors and the amount of small pelagic fish carried by the Kuroshio Current. The total seasonal prey consumption by whales in the study area was estimated to be 774 000 t of Japanese anchovy (16% of the consumed biomass), 44 000 t of Pacific saury (1% of the consumed biomass), and 140 000 t of mackerels (14% of the consumed biomass), indicating these baleen whales are important components in the ecosystem, and warrant inclusion in fisheries assessments.

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Geographical and seasonal changes of the prey species of minke whale in the Northwestern Pacific

Cited by 40 publications

References 9 publications

Seasonal Habitat Patterns of Japanese Common Squid (Todarodes Pacificus) Inferred from Satellite-Based Species Distribution Models

Seasonal Habitat Patterns of Japanese Common Squid (Todarodes Pacificus) Inferred from Satellite-Based Species Distribution Models

Observations on the spawning behavior, egg masses and paralarval development of the ommastrephid squid Todarodes pacificus in a laboratory mesocosm

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