Migratory Movements, Depth Preferences, and Thermal Biology of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Block, Barbara A.; Dewar, Heidi; Blackwell, Susanna B.; Williams, Thomas D.; Prince, Eric D.; Farwell, Charles J.; Boustany, André M.; Teo, Steven L. H.; Seitz, Andrew C.; Walli, Andreas; Fudge, Douglas S.

doi:10.1126/science.1061197

Cited by 562 publications

(426 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…These fish exhibited the same seasonal migration as similar-size fish in our study (Fig. 2B), including the occupation of the Slope Sea during the spawning season (2,5,27). These migratory tracks suggest that reproductive mixing between the eastern and western stocks may occur in the Slope Sea and that the population structure of bluefin tuna may be more complex than is currently depicted (4,28).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 57%

“…The primary support for this hypothesis came from an exploratory longline cruise in this area from June to July 1957 that found bluefin tuna in spawning condition (10,17). Recent reproductive studies on adjacent foraging grounds in the Gulf of Maine (11,12), electronic tagging data analyses (2,4), and energetic modeling studies (9) provided further circumstantial evidence for spawning in this area. However, targeted surveys for bluefin tuna larvae in the Slope Sea were never performed, and most research over the past few decades has dismissed the idea that substantial levels of spawning occur in the western Atlantic outside of the Gulf of Mexico.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on sampling on these two spawning grounds, the eastern bluefin tuna stock assessment uses an age at 50% maturity of 4 y and the western bluefin tuna stock assessment uses a "knife-edge" age at maturity (i.e., all fish reach maturity at the same age) of 9 y. Electronic tagging shows that many bluefin tuna much older than these estimated ages at maturity do not occupy either known spawning ground during the spawning season (2)(3)(4)(5). This contradiction has been attributed to fish not maturing until an older age than assumed in the assessment (age at 50% maturity: eastern fish, 6-10 y; western fish, 14-16 y) or not spawning every year (6)(7)(8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Discovery of a spawning ground reveals diverse migration strategies in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Richardson

Marancik

Guyon

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

123

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Atlantic bluefin tuna are a symbol of both the conflict between preservationist and utilitarian views of top ocean predators, and the struggle to reach international consensus on the management of migratory species. Currently, Atlantic bluefin tuna are managed as an early-maturing eastern stock, which spawns in the Mediterranean Sea, and a late-maturing western stock, which spawns in the Gulf of Mexico. However, electronic tagging studies show that many bluefin tuna, assumed to be of a mature size, do not visit either spawning ground during the spawning season. Whether these fish are spawning in an alternate location, skip-spawning, or not spawning until an older age affects how vulnerable this species is to anthropogenic stressors including exploitation. We use larval collections to demonstrate a bluefin tuna spawning ground in the Slope Sea, between the Gulf Stream and northeast United States continental shelf. We contend that western Atlantic bluefin tuna have a differential spawning migration, with larger individuals spawning in the Gulf of Mexico, and smaller individuals spawning in the Slope Sea. The current life history model, which assumes only Gulf of Mexico spawning, overestimates age at maturity for the western stock. Furthermore, individual tuna occupy both the Slope Sea and Mediterranean Sea in separate years, contrary to the prevailing view that individuals exhibit complete spawning-site fidelity. Overall, this complexity of spawning migrations questions whether there is complete independence in the dynamics of eastern and western Atlantic bluefin tuna and leads to lower estimates of the vulnerability of this species to exploitation and other anthropogenic stressors.ichthyoplankton | Scombridae | large pelagic fish | pop-up satellite archival tag | population structure L ong-distance migrations pose a unique challenge to fisheries management, as conservation actions taken on a regional scale can be undermined if less stringent measures are implemented across other parts of the migratory pathway. Few species exemplify this problem better than Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). This species is harvested by the fisheries of over 20 nations, from the tropics to subarctic and coastal to international waters. Contentious international disputes have persisted for decades over how many bluefin tuna to harvest and how to allocate catch among nations. By the start of the 21st century, intense fishing pressure had driven this species to historically low population levels, a decline that has since reversed as fishing mortality has decreased under stricter management (1). However, despite this recent positive trend, many challenges remain in developing an ecologically sustainable fishery for bluefin tuna that also provides economic and social benefits to the fishing communities throughout its range. Among the most prominent of these challenges is the need for stock assessment models and management regulations that better account for the complex movements of this species.The movements of Atlantic bluefin t...

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Section: )mentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Discovery of a spawning ground reveals diverse migration strategies in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Richardson

Marancik

Guyon

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

123

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“…tuna genome | visual system | animal opsin T unas are considered "the ultimate fish," because they are top predators in ocean ecosystems, in addition to their unique morphology and physiology (1,2). Worldwide, tunas have been exploited because of their high market values, causing concern about the state of the wild stocks (3).…”

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confidence: 99%

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

Nakamura

Mori

Saitoh

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

110

112

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Tunas are migratory fishes in offshore habitats and top predators with unique features. Despite their ecological importance and high market values, the open-ocean lifestyle of tuna, in which effective sensing systems such as color vision are required for capture of prey, has been poorly understood. To elucidate the genetic and evolutionary basis of optic adaptation of tuna, we determined the genome sequence of the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis), using next-generation sequencing technology. A total of 26,433 protein-coding genes were predicted from 16,802 assembled scaffolds. From these, we identified five common fish visual pigment genes: red-sensitive (middle/long-wavelength sensitive; M/LWS), UV-sensitive (short-wavelength sensitive 1; SWS1), blue-sensitive (SWS2), rhodopsin (RH1), and green-sensitive (RH2) opsin genes. Sequence comparison revealed that tuna's RH1 gene has an amino acid substitution that causes a short-wave shift in the absorption spectrum (i.e., blue shift). Pacific bluefin tuna has at least five RH2 paralogs, the most among studied fishes; four of the proteins encoded may be tuned to blue light at the amino acid level. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis suggested that gene conversions have occurred in each of the SWS2 and RH2 loci in a short period. Thus, Pacific bluefin tuna has undergone evolutionary changes in three genes (RH1, RH2, and SWS2), which may have contributed to detecting blue-green contrast and measuring the distance to prey in the blue-pelagic ocean. These findings provide basic information on behavioral traits of predatory fish and, thereby, could help to improve the technology to culture such fish in captivity for resource management.tuna genome | visual system | animal opsin

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“…However, it is very difficult to establish if YOY bluefin tuna hunts in mesopelagic waters or feeds on these organisms when they rise towards surface layers during diel migration. Adult bluefin tunas are known to prey also in deeper waters up to 600 m (Block et al 2001) and there is evidence of predation on demersal deep species (Battaglia et al 2013). Nevertheless, it more credible that YOY bluefin tuna does not perform large vertical excursions during feeding activity, but catches its prey in shallow waters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

**Cephalopods in the diet of young-of-the-year bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnusL. 1758, Pisces: Scombridae) from the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (central Mediterranean Sea)**

Battaglia

Pedà

Sinopoli

et al. 2013

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Information on distribution and abundance of cephalopods inhabiting pelagic water masses is often not available because of the difficulty of applying conventional methods in this remote habitat. An alternative source of information is represented by stomach content analysis of pelagic predators that are known to be efficient cephalopod prey collectors. This study focuses on the occurrence of cephalopod prey in the diet of young-of-the-year bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L. 1758, Pisces: Scombridae) in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (central Mediterranean). Overall, 139 fishes were sampled by trolling lines or purse-seine in a Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) area and as by-catch of the purse-seine sardine fishery, from 1998 to 2000 between July and November. Cephalopods found in the stomach contents were identified to the lowest possible taxon and, when digestion was too advanced, beaks from stomachs were considered as the best taxonomic feature for classification. Of a total of 1233 cephalopod prey, 1144 individuals were identified, belonging to 15 species. Onychoteuthis banksii was the most common prey (%N = 58.39), followed by Heteroteuthis dispar (%N = 23.03). This importance was confirmed also in terms of biomass with O. banksii and H. dispar that respectively reached 39.41% and 21.23% in weight, followed by Todarodes sagittatus (%W = 20.16). In general, young-of-the-year bluefin tunas are able to feed on a large spectrum of cephalopod prey in the study area, usually relying on juvenile specimens and epipelagic and mesopelagic shoaling species. In fact, the identified preys mainly belong to muscular squids (71%) and sepiolids (25%), but pelagic octopuses, buoyant squids and juvenile demersal octopuses were also recorded. These data provide further information on the feeding habits of T. thynnus, relative to a poorly investigated life stage. The improving knowledge on trophic relationships of young tunas and their reliance on cephalopod taxa is an important step in supporting management of this fishery resource.

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Migratory Movements, Depth Preferences, and Thermal Biology of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Cited by 562 publications

References 14 publications

Discovery of a spawning ground reveals diverse migration strategies in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Discovery of a spawning ground reveals diverse migration strategies in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

**Cephalopods in the diet of young-of-the-year bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnusL. 1758, Pisces: Scombridae) from the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (central Mediterranean Sea)**

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