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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Transport-determined early growth and development of jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus juveniles immigrating into Sagami Bay, Japan

Songguang Xie A B C and Yoshiro Watanabe B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430072.

B Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minamidai, Nakano, Tokyo 164-8639, Japan.

C Corresponding author. Email: xiesg@ihb.ac.cn

Marine and Freshwater Research 58(11) 1048-1055 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF06165
Submitted: 12 September 2006  Accepted: 16 October 2007   Published: 3 December 2007

Abstract

Oceanographic conditions and transport processes are often critical factors that affect the early growth, survival and recruitment of marine fishes. Sagittal otoliths were analysed to determine age and early growth for 381 jack mackerel (Trachurus japonicus) juveniles from Sagami Bay on the Pacific coast of Japan. Two separate hatching periods (December and February–March) were identified. They originated from the spawning grounds in the East China Sea. Early growth and developmental rates of December-hatching fish were lower than those for February–March-hatching fish. It is likely that these differences were determined in the Kuroshio Current during transport from the spawning grounds to Sagami Bay, and the lower December water temperatures in the bay. Origin and hatch dates of juveniles in Sagami Bay were in contrast to previous research on Fukawa Bay, where April-or-later-hatching fish from spawning grounds in the coastal waters of southern Japan constituted about half of the juvenile population. Management of these two jack mackerel stocks needs to consider these differences in hatch date composition and spawning origins, as these differences could affect early growth and subsequent mortality.

Additional keywords: early life history, otolith microstructure, secondary primordium.


Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by a Research Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Foreign Researchers to S. Xie, the FRECS program from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to Y. Watanabe, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30000125 and 30770354) and the Institute of Hydrobiology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 065103–1-201). Water temperature data were provided by the Japan Sea Division of Yamaguchi Prefectural Fisheries Research Center and National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan. The paper was greatly improved by the suggestions of Dr Brian R. Murphy, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Tech, VA, USA.


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