Life History Traits of Two Allopatric Clupeids, Atlantic Menhaden and Gulf Menhaden, and the Effects of Harvesting on These Traits

Abstract

Life history traits of Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus and gulf menhaden B. patronus were compared and interpreted within the context of a bet-hedging model that predicts what traits should evolve in local environments when the survival of the larval stage is less predictable than that of the adult stage. Atlantic menhaden appear to spawn in a relatively lesspredictable environment. Compared with gulf menhaden, Atlantic menhaden are older at the onset of sexual maturity and have a longer reproductive span, as well as a longer spawning period. Atlantic menhaden produce larger eggs, and their larvae are larger at hatching and younger and larger at first feeding; the larvae appear to grow faster but they are relatively smaller than gulf menhaden at their first metamorphosis. Heavy exploitation of Atlantic menhaden has resulted in a truncation of the age structure, contraction of their spawning range, a reduction in lifetime fecundity, and possibly modifications of the egg size distribution. Thus, the risk of reproductive failure may have increased because spawning now takes place over narrower geographic and temporal ranges.

Effects of recruitment through a coastal hydrodynamic boundary layer on growth and otolith microstructure of larval Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus)

“…This peak was smaller than the second, late-winter peak, which occurred in either late January or early February for years 1 and 2, respectively. This large second spawning peak is consistent with previously reported spawning peaks that occurred in late January and February (Shaw et al, 1988;Powell 1994;Raynie and Shaw, 1994;Vaughan et al, 2000). In particular, collection of small (3-5 mm SL) and young (7-12 das) larvae in late September to early October had back-calculated spawning dates that suggested a much earlier spawning season (i.e., September) and a much shorter recruitment corridor than previously reported.…”

“…Age (dah) with approximately the 3 mm total length reported elsewhere (Hettler, 1981;Warlen, 1988;Powell, 1994;Raynie and Shaw, 1994). Smaller and younger larvae were encountered earlier during the sample period (i.e., September to early October) for both years.…”

“…Gulf menhaden are estuarine dependent and reportedly spawn from October through February (Whitehead, 1985;Nelson and Ahrenholz, 1986;Vaughan et al, 2000) and the peak estuarine recruitment occurs in late January and early February (Lewis and Roithmayr, 1981;Shaw et al, 1988). Spawning depth for Gulf menhaden is usually 90 m and shallower (Whitehead, 1985;Powell, 1994), and spawning locations occur farther offshore as the season progresses, suggesting shorter "recruitment corridors" (Cushing, 1975) during fall recruitment . Mean egg diameter has been reported to be 1.61 mm, and length at hatching to be approximately 3 mm total length (Dahlberg, 1970;Lewis and Roithmayr, 1981;Shaw et al, 1985).…”

“…To increase model speed, length at hatching was constrained between 1 and 4 mm on the basis of the literature reporting between 2 and 4 mm (Hettler, 1981;Warlen, 1988;Powell, 1994;Raynie and Shaw, 1994). Similarly, t * was estimated with a lower bound constraint of 20 dah, and an upper bound constraint of 45 dah (Suttkus, 1956;Hettler, 1981;Raynie, 1991).…”

Recruitment of juvenile fishes into a small temperate choked lagoon (Argentina) and the influence of environmental factors during the process

“…The late arrival of B. aurea to the Mar Chiquita system relies on a later onset of the reproductive season (late winter/ early summer) in the Argentine coast (Acha and Macchi 2000). In contrast to larvae of other clupeoids from the northern hemisphere (B. tyrannus and B. patronus) (Powell 1994) that are spawned offshore and then drift towards the coast, B. aurea larvae in the Río de la Plata estuary are spawned and retained in estuarine waters (Acha and Macchi 2000). In Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon (~350 km southward of the Río de la Plata estuary) the occurrence of few individuals of B. aurea in advanced maturation ) and the high abundances of eggs and larvae of this species over the inlet channel (Bruno et al 2014) suggest that spawning activity may also occur inside this estuarine system.…”