88 research outputs found
Sex-Specific Growth and Reproductive Dynamics of Red Drum in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
The Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus stock is heavily targeted in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) by recreational fishers and supports a small commercial fishery in Mississippi. Despite their popularity, little recent work has been done to describe their life history. In this work, we describe sexâspecific growth and reproductive dynamics of Red Drum collected from the northern GOM from September 2016 through October 2017. We evaluated seven candidate growth models and found that the threeâparameter von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) was the best candidate lengthâatâage model. No significant difference in growth between sexes was observed with the threeâparameter VBGF, despite the femaleâspecific curve having a larger mean asymptotic length than the maleâspecific curve. All seven candidate growth models predicted similar mean lengthâatâage estimates, and four of them exhibited significant differences in sexâspecific mean length at age, with females reaching a larger length at age than males after age 5. There was no significant difference between the sexâspecific weightâatâlength relationships. Red Drum are batch spawners that spawn in northern GOM coastal waters during August and September. We estimated 3.7 d between spawns and 10.5 spawning events per female in 2017. Nearly 20% of fish collected during the spawning season were sexually mature but reproductively inactive, indicating the possibility of skipped spawning. The age at 50% maturity was around 3 years (length at 50% maturity = 670 mm TL) in both sexes, but fish were not spawning capable until age 4.5 (703 mm TL) in males and age 5.8 (840 mm TL) in females. Furthermore, elevated gonadosomatic indices were not observed until around age 5â6. The updated life history information presented in this work helps to address current data limitations and provides critical information for future assessments of Red Drum stocks in the northern GOM
A standardized terminology for describing reproductive development in fishes
19 pĂĄginas, 12 figuras, 3 tablas.-- Open access journalAs the number of fish reproduction studies has proliferated, so has the number of gonadal classification schemes
and terms. This has made it difficult for both scientists and resource managers to communicate and for comparisons to
be made among studies.We propose the adoption of a simple, universal terminology for the phases in the reproductive
cycle, which can be applied to all male and female elasmobranch and teleost fishes. These phases were chosen because
they define key milestones in the reproductive cycle; the phases include immature, developing, spawning capable,
regressing, and regenerating. Although the temporal sequence of events during gamete development in each phase
may vary among species, each phase has specific histological and physiological markers and is conceptually universal.
The immature phase can occur only once. The developing phase signals entry into the gonadotropin-dependent stage
of oogenesis and spermatogenesis and ultimately results in gonadal growth. The spawning capable phase includes (1)
those fish with gamete development that is sufficiently advanced to allow for spawning within the current reproductive
cycle and (2) batch-spawning females that show signs of previous spawns (i.e., postovulatory follicle complex) and
that are also capable of additional spawns during the current cycle. Within the spawning capable phase, an actively
spawning subphase is defined that corresponds to hydration and ovulation in females and spermiation in males. The
regressing phase indicates completion of the reproductive cycle and, for many fish, completion of the spawning season.
Fish in the regenerating phase are sexually mature but reproductively inactive. Species-specific histological criteria
or classes can be incorporated within each of the universal phases, allowing for more specific divisions (subphases) while preserving the overall reproductive terminology for comparative purposes. This terminology can easily be
modified for fishes with alternate reproductive strategies, such as hermaphrodites (addition of a transition phase) and
livebearers (addition of a gestation phase)Fish Reproduction and Fisheries (FRESH; European
Cooperation in Science and Technology Action FA0601)
and theWest Palm Beach Fishing Club (Florida) provided funding
for the gonadal histology workshops where this terminology
was developed and refined. Additionally, we thank FRESH for
travel and publication fundsPeer reviewe
Fish Spawning Aggregations: Where Well-Placed Management Actions Can Yield Big Benefits for Fisheries and Conservation
Marine ecosystem management has traditionally been divided between fisheries management and biodiversity conservation approaches, and the merging of these disparate agendas has proven difficult. Here, we offer a pathway that can unite fishers, scientists, resource managers and conservationists towards a single vision for some areas of the ocean where small investments in management can offer disproportionately large benefits to fisheries and biodiversity conservation. Specifically, we provide a series of evidenced-based arguments that support an urgent need to recognize fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) as a focal point for fisheries management and conservation on a global scale, with a particular emphasis placed on the protection of multispecies FSA sites. We illustrate that these sites serve as productivity hotspots - small areas of the ocean that are dictated by the interactions between physical forces and geomorphology, attract multiple species to reproduce in large numbers and support food web dynamics, ecosystem health and robust fisheries. FSAs are comparable in vulnerability, importance and magnificence to breeding aggregations of seabirds, sea turtles and whales yet they receive insufficient attention and are declining worldwide. Numerous case-studies confirm that protected aggregations do recover to benefit fisheries through increases in fish biomass, catch rates and larval recruitment at fished sites. The small size and spatio-temporal predictability of FSAs allow monitoring, assessment and enforcement to be scaled down while benefits of protection scale up to entire populations. Fishers intuitively understand the linkages between protecting FSAs and healthy fisheries and thus tend to support their protection
Global trends in aquatic animal tracking with acoustic telemetry
Acoustic telemetry (AT) is a rapidly evolving technique used to track the movements of aquatic animals. As the capacity of AT research expands it is important to optimize its relevance to management while still pursuing key ecological questions. A global review of AT literature revealed region-specific research priorities underscoring the breadth of how AT is applied, but collectively demonstrated a lack of management-driven objectives, particularly relating to fisheries, climate change, and protection of species. In addition to the need for more research with direct pertinence to management, AT research should prioritize ongoing efforts to create collaborative opportunities, establish long-term and ecosystem-based monitoring, and utilize technological advancements to bolster aquatic policy and ecological understanding worldwide
Positioning aquatic animals with acoustic transmitters
Geolocating aquatic animals with acoustic tags has been ongoing for decades, relying on the detection of acoustic signals at multiple receivers with known positions to calculate a 2D or 3D position, and ultimately recreate the path of an aquatic animal from detections at fixed stations.This method of underwater geolocation is evolving with new software and hardware options available to help investigators design studies and calculate positions using solvers based predominantly on time-difference-of-arrival and time-of-arrival.We provide an overview of the considerations necessary to implement positioning in aquatic acoustic telemetry studies, including how to design arrays of receivers, test performance, synchronize receiver clocks and calculate positions from the detection data. We additionally present some common positioning algorithms, including both the free open-source solvers and the 'black-box' methods provided by some manufacturers for calculating positions.This paper is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of methods and considerations for designing and implementing better positioning studies that will support users, and encourage further knowledge advances in aquatic systems
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