Movement patterns of barramundi Lates calcarifer, inferred from 87Sr/86Sr and Sr/Ca ratios in otoliths, indicate non-participation in spawning

Milton, David A.; Chenery, Simon

doi:10.3354/meps301279

Cited by 48 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…1 C and D) with arrested ovaries (17) ( Table 1). That nonreproducing "mature" individuals do not undertake migrations associated with spawning has also been noted in other teleosts (7,8). If spawning stock abundance is measured in spawning aggregations, and it is assumed that all fish spawn, this has the important implication that skipped spawning may result in an underestimation of the numbers of large individuals in the population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequent skipped spawning in the world’s largest cod population

Skjæraasen

Nash

Korsbrekke

et al. 2012

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

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Life-history theory suggests that animals may skip reproductive events after initial maturation to maximize lifetime fitness. In iteroparous teleosts, verifying past spawning history is particularly difficult; the degree of skipped spawning at the population level therefore remains unknown. We unequivocally show frequent skipped spawning in Northeast Arctic cod (NEAC) in a massive field and laboratory effort from 2006 to 2008. This was verified by postovulatory follicles in temporarily arrested ovaries close to the putative spawning period. At the population level, "skippers" were estimated to be approximately equally abundant as spawning females in 2008, constituting ∼24% of the females 60-100 cm. These females never truly started vitellogenesis and principally remained on the feeding grounds when spawners migrated southward, avoiding any migration costs. The proximate cause of skipping seems to be insufficient energy to initiate oocyte development, indicating that skipped spawning may partly be a density-dependent response important in population regulation. Our data also indicate more skipping among smaller females and potential tradeoffs between current and future reproductive effort. We propose that skipped spawning is an integral life-history component for NEAC, likely varying annually, and it could therefore be an underlying factor causing some of the currently unexplained large NEAC recruitment variation. The same may hold for other teleosts.codfish | population dynamics | reproductive biology | total egg production | stock reproductive potential P opulation demography changes according to reproduction and mortality. In high latitude marine ectotherms, including teleosts, survival of the youngest age classes varies substantially, resulting in large fluctuations in population size (1). Historic spawning stock biomass (SSB) is used to forecast future fish recruitment, although the amount of unexplained variation indicates that SSB may not accurately reflect offspring production (2, 3). One factor that could significantly impact egg production is skipped spawning-the failure of iteroparous spawners to use each spawning opportunity after sexual maturity sensu (4). For most teleosts this phenomenon and its impact on population demography has received scant attention, but theoretical models indicate that up to 30% of the mature individuals may skip spawning and that it is an adaptive strategy optimizing lifetime fitness (5). To date, skipped spawning has been documented in more than 30 species (4, 6), including freshwater (7), marine (8), and anadromous teleosts (9). It has been documented for fish with both indeterminate and determinate fecundity and sequential hermaphrodites (6) and in species with as diverse life histories as the European horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus (10) and the orange roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus (8). Given the difficulty in conclusively establishing past spawning, reports of skipped spawning in teleosts are commonly anecdotal (4).The major process of energy transfer and oocyte gr...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequent skipped spawning in the world’s largest cod population

Skjæraasen

Nash

Korsbrekke

et al. 2012

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

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“…The scenario of skipping a spawning season is somewhat likely for common snook as even in normal years only a portion of the mature population spawns (Blewett 2009). Similarly, individuals of barramundi, Lates calcarifer, a Pacific species with a similar life history, do not spawn in every year (Milton 2005). Spawning can be a stressful event for fishes resulting in death for individuals of some species (e.g., Pyron and Beitinger 1993), and progeny of physiologically stressed fishes are often deformed or have low survival (McCullough et al 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a Severe Cold Event on the Subtropical, Estuarine-Dependent Common Snook, Centropomus undecimalis

Adams

Hill²,

Kurth³

et al. 2012

GCR

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The effects of infrequent disturbance events on marine fishes are often difficult to determine, due largely to lack of sufficient pre-and post-disturbance event data. In January 2010, subtropical southwestern Florida (USA) experienced extreme cold for 13 days, which caused extensive mortality of many fish species. The effect of this severe cold event on common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), an economically important gamefish, was assessed using three years (2007)(2008)(2009)) of pre-event and one year (2010) of post-event data from a tag-recapture program conducted over 28 km of Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida. All metrics pointed to a significant effect of the severe cold event: post-disturbance apparent survival of marked fish was 96-97% lower than pre-disturbance, and post-disturbance common snook abundance was 75.57% and 41.88% less than in 2008 and 2009, the two years immediately pre-event. Although severe cold events have impacted subtropical Florida in the past, these events are infrequent (the previous recorded event was >30 years prior), and documentation of the impacts on common snook have not previously been published.

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“…Isotope and elemental ratios of aragonitic otoliths, or ear stones, have proved particularly useful for identifying rates of natal homing (Thorrold et al, 2001), dispersal (Thorrold et al, 2002), thermal histories (Valle and Herzka, 2008), and movements across salinity gradients (Milton and Chenery, 2005). Because otoliths are metabolically inert, accrete discrete layers incrementally, and incorporate some isotopes and elements in proportion to their ambient abundance, they can serve as useful natural tags that reflect the environmental history of a fish (Campana, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%