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Spatial distribution of Cubiceps pauciradiatus (Perciformes: Nomeidae) in the tropical Indian Ocean and its importancein the diet of large pelagic fishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2008

Michel Potier ,
Evgeny Romanov ,
Yves Cherel ,
Richard Sabatié ,
Veniamin Zamorov  and
Frédéric Ménard
Michel Potier
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), UR 109 Thetis, BP 172, 97492 Ste Clotilde Cedex, La Réunion
Evgeny Romanov
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 109 Thetis, CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale), BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
Yves Cherel
Affiliation:
CEBC (Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé), UPR 1034 du CNRS, BP 14, 79360 Villiers en Bois, France
Richard Sabatié
Affiliation:
Pôle Halieutique, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Halieutique, Agrocampus-Rennes, 65 rue de St Brieuc, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
Veniamin Zamorov
Affiliation:
I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University (ONU), 2 Dvoryanskaya St., 65000 Odessa, Ukraine
Frédéric Ménard
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 109 Thetis, CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale), BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
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Abstract

The bigeye cigarfish (Cubiceps pauciradiatus) is a small pelagic nomeid of the tropical world ocean, often recovered in the stomach contents of top predators such as tunas, billfishes and marine mammals. In the Indian Ocean, a few studies have investigated the biology and the ecology of this species that is one of the most abundant fish of the intermediate trophic levels. In this paper, we investigated the spatial distribution of C. pauciradiatus in the Indian Ocean using pelagic trawl catches carried out between 20°N and 45°S, and the importance of bigeye cigarfish in the diet of 9 piscivorous fishes sampled by different fishing gears in the western part of the Indian Ocean. The highest densities were observed along the eastern coast of Africa and in the Arabian Sea (87 000 individuals per square nautical mile) during the South-West Monsoon and in the eastern part of the Seychelles archipelago (62 200 ind. square nmi) during the North-East Monsoon. Small sized bigeye cigarfish (20–80 mm SL) was a regular and abundant prey (20 to 200 ind. per stomach) for schooling predators exploited by purse seine fishery such as large yellowfin and bigeye tunas chasing prey near the sea surface. Large sized bigeye cigarfish (61–150 mm SL) occurred in small numbers (3 to 20 ind. per stomach) in the stomach contents of swordfish and of large yellowfin and bigeye tunas caught by longline sets at great depths. Large concentrations of bigeye cigarfish occurred in zones of high productivity, and that species constituted seasonally a strong link in the transfer of energy from low to high trophic levels in this part of the Indian Ocean.

Keywords

DietFeeding ecologyBigeye cigarfishAbundanceTrophic roleTunaSailfishSwordfishIndian Ocean
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 123 - 134
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2008

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