Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T16:29:34.261Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of current and daylight variations on small-pelagic fish aggregations (Selar crumenophthalmus) around a coastal fish aggregating device studied by fine-scale acoustic tracking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2012

Manuela Capello ,
Marc Soria ,
Gael Potin ,
Pascal Cotel  and
Laurent Dagorn
Manuela Capello*
Affiliation:
UMR EME, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), BP 50172, 97492 Sainte Clotilde Cedex, La Réunion, France
Marc Soria
Affiliation:
UMR EME, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), BP 50172, 97492 Sainte Clotilde Cedex, La Réunion, France
Gael Potin
Affiliation:
ECOMAR, Laboratoire d’Ecologie marine, Université de La Réunion, Saint Denis, La Réunion, France
Pascal Cotel
Affiliation:
UMR EME, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), BP 50172, 97492 Sainte Clotilde Cedex, La Réunion, France
Laurent Dagorn
Affiliation:
UMR EME, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Victoria, Seychelles
*
a Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Several pelagic fish species are known to associate with floating objects. However, quantitative information on the main factors that drive this associative behaviour is still lacking. Small pelagic fish offer a particularly interesting case study for this phenomenon, since the small spatial scales involved in their association with floating objects allow experimental data to be collected at a fine scale. Here, we monitored twelve acoustically-tagged bigeye scads, Selar crumenophthalmus (Carangidae), (mean fork length 16.4 cm, SD 2.1 cm) around a floating object moored in shallow water (15 m depth) playing the role of a coastal fish aggregating device (FAD). To quantify the role played by variations in current and daylight, we calculated the speed distribution, pair correlation function and group polarization for the tagged fish hourly, from midday to dusk (13:00–18:00), for varying current strengths and daylight conditions. We found that the current induced a shift in the position of the aggregation upstream of the FAD, at distances that increased with the current strength. We found evidence of an expansion and a higher coordination in the aggregation at dusk, with increasing speed, distance among conspecifics and alignment. We discuss possible scenarios in which group polarization increases at dusk and suggest complementary measurements for future experiments that could confirm our findings.

Keywords

Acoustic telemetrySmall pelagic fishMoored FADFish aggregationBehaviourDaylight effectsRheotaxisIndian Ocean
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 63 - 68
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almeida P., Quintella B., Costa M., Moore A., 2007, Developments in Fish Telemetry. Proc. the 6th Conference on Fish Telemetry held in Europe. Springer-Verlag New York.
Capello, M., Soria, M., Cotel, P., Deneubourg, J.L., Dagorn, L., 2011, Quantifying the interplay between environmental and social effects on aggregated-fish dynamics. PLoS One 6(12) : e28109. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Capello M., Soria M., Cotel P., Potin G., Dagorn L., 2012, The heterogeneous spatial and temporal patterns of behavior of small pelagic fish in an array of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. (in press).
Castro, J.J., Santiago, J.A., Santana-Ortega, A.T., 2002, A general theory on fish aggregation to floating objects : an alternative to the meeting point hypothesis. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 11, 255–277. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavagna, A., Cimarelli, A., Giardina, I., Orlandi, A., Parisi, G., et al., 2008, New statistical tools for analyzing the structure of animal groups. Math. Biosci. 214, 32–37. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavagna, A., Cimarelli, A., Giardina, I., Parisi, G., Santagati, R., Stefanini, F., Tavarone, R., 2010, From empirical data to inter-individual interactions : unveiling the rules of collective animal behaviour. Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 20, 1491–1510. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dagorn, L., Holland, K.N., Itano, D.G., 2007, Behavior of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (T. obesus) tuna in a network of fish aggregating devices (FAD). Mar. Biol. 151, 595–606. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dempster, T., Taquet, M., 2004, Fish aggregation device (FAD) research : gaps in current knowledge and future directions for ecological studies. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 14, 21–42. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doray, M., Josse, E., Gervain, P., Reynal, L., Chantrel, J., 2006, Acoustic characterisation of pelagic fish aggregations around moored fish aggregating devices in Martinique (Lesser Antilles). Fish. Res. 82, 162–175. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fréon, P., Gerlotto, F., Soria, M., 1996, Diel variability of school structure with special attention on transition periods. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 53, 459–464. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fréon, P., Dagorn, L., 2000, Review of fish associative behaviour : toward a generalisation of the meeting point hypothesis. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 10, 183–207. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallier, J.P., Gartner, D., 2008, Drifting fish aggregation devices could act as an ecological trap for tropical tuna species. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 353, 255–264. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitt, S., Pittman, S.J., Brown, K. A., 2011, Tracking and mapping sun-synchronous migrations and diel space use patterns of Haemulon sciurus and Lutjanus apodus in the US Virgin Islands. Environ. Biol. Fish 92, 525–538. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, J.R., Mitchell, C.T., 1967, Field experiments on the attraction of fish to floating objects. J. Cons. Perm. Int. Explor. Mer 31, 427–434. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josse, E., Dagorn, L., Bertrand, A., 2000, Typology and behaviour of tuna aggregations around fish aggregating devices from acoustic surveys in French Polynesia. Aquat. Living Resour. 13, 183–192. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klimley, A.P., Holloway, C.F., 1999, School fidelity and homing synchronicity of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares. Mar. Biol. 133, 307–317. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindquist, D.G., Pietrafesa, L.J., 1989, Current vortices and fish aggregations : the current field and associated fishes around a tugboat wreck in Onslow Bay, North Carolina. Bull. Mar. Sci. 44, 533–544. Google Scholar
Marsac F., Fonteneau A., Ménard F., 2000, Drifting FADs used in tuna fisheries : an ecological trap? In : Pêche thonière et dispositifs de concentration de poissons. Le Gall J.-Y., P. Cayré, M. Taquet (eds). Ed. Ifremer, Actes Colloq. 28, 537–552.
Moreno, G., Josse, E., Brehmer, P., Nøttestad, L., 2007, Echotrace classification and spatial distribution of pelagic fish aggregations around drifting fish aggregating devices (DFAD). Aquat. Living Resour. 20, 343–356. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohta, I., Kakuma, S., 2005, Periodic behavior and residence time of yellowfin and bigeye tuna associated with fish aggregating devices around Okinawa Islands, as identified with automated listening stations. Mar. Biol. 146, 581–594. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Partridge, B.L., Wardle, C.S., 1976, A blind fish can school. Science 194, 963–965. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Development Core Team, 2011, R : A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Roos, D., Roux, O., Conand, F., 2007, Notes on the biology of the bigeye scad, Selar crumenophthalmus (Carangidae) around Reunion Island, southwest Indian Ocean. Sci. Mar. 71, 137–144. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roux, O., Conand, F., 2000, Feeding habits of the bigeye scad, Selar crumenophthalmus (Carangidae), in La Réunion Island waters (south-western Indian Ocean). Cybium 24, 173–179. Google Scholar
Soria, M., Fréon, P., Chabanet, P., 2007, Schooling properties of an obligate and a facultative fish species. J. Fish Biol. 71, 1257–1269. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soria, M., Dagorn, L., Potin, G., Fréon, P., 2009, First field-based experiment supporting the meeting point hypothesis for schooling in pelagic fish. Anim. Behav. 78, 1441–1446. CrossRefGoogle Scholar