Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T16:41:55.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Schooling behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a fish aggregating device (FAD) in the Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2012

Yasushi Mitsunaga ,
Chikayuki Endo  and
Ricardo P. Babaran
Yasushi Mitsunaga*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, 3327-204 Naka-machi, 631-8505 Nara, Japan
Chikayuki Endo
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, 3327-204 Naka-machi, 631-8505 Nara, Japan
Ricardo P. Babaran
Affiliation:
College of Fisheries and Ocean Science, University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao, 5023 Iloilo, Philippines
*
a Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A fish aggregating device (FAD) called a payao is conventionally installed to catch pelagic species in the Philippines. The waters around the Philippines are important regions for yellowfin tuna stocks because they include spawning grounds and nurseries. To understand the schooling behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a payao, 13 juveniles (20.5−24.0 cm fork length) double tagged with ultrasonic transmitters (V7-2L-R256; Vemco Ltd.) and data loggers (DST-micro; Star-Oddi Ltd.) were released around a payao. A self-recording receiver (VR2-DEL; Vemco Ltd.) was attached on the mooring rope of the payao to follow the horizontal movements and data loggers recorded the vertical movements of tagged juveniles. Nine juveniles were recaptured simultaneously by ring net at the same payao after 4-7 days. One juvenile was recaptured by hand line at another payao 12 km away from the tagging site after 6 days. Recaptured juveniles showed a diurnal schooling pattern suggesting different school shape and foraging strategy between daytime and nighttime. Juveniles showed a diurnal horizontal moving pattern, concentrated near the payao during daytime, while they were distributed around the payao at nighttime. The fluctuations of swimming depth were synchronized among fish. Juveniles also showed a diurnal vertical movement pattern in surface mixed layer. They concentrated in a shallow and narrow range (11.2±8.2 m, mean ± SD) at nighttime, while they were distributed to a deep and wide range (20.0 ± 11.8 m) during daytime. The maximum vertical neighbor distance indicated the vertical thickness of the school and showed a peak around noon. Higher vertical movement speed during daytime indicated vertical foraging in a water column, while at nighttime the juveniles might forage horizontally following the diurnal migration patterns of prey in the surface layer.

Keywords

Telemetryjuvenilefish schoolFADpayaoswimming behaviorYellowfin tuna
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 79 - 84
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

Aprieto V.L., 1991, Payao tuna aggregating device in the Philippines. In : Pietersz V.L.C. (Ed.) Symposium on artificial reefs and fish aggregating devices as tools for the management and enhancement of marine fishery resources, Columbo, 14 − 17 May 1990. Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Indo-Pacific Fish. Comm., FAO-UN 1991/11, pp. 1–15.
Babaran, P.R., Anraku, K., Ishizaki, M., Watanabe, K., Matsuoka, T., Shirai, H., 2008, Sound generated by a payao and comparison with auditory sensitivity of jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus. Fish. Sci. 74, 1207–1214. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babaran, R., Endo, C., Mitsunaga, Y., Anraku, K., 2009, Telemetry study on juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a payao in the Philippines. Fish. Eng. 46, 21–28. Google Scholar
Bertrand, A., Borgne, L.R., Josse, E., 1999, Acoustic characterisation of micronekton distribution in French Polynesia. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 191, 127–140. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bushnell, P.G., Holland, K.N., 1997, Tunas. Virginia Mar. Res. Bull. 29, 3–6. Google Scholar
Dagorn, L., Holland, K.N., Hallier, J.P., Taquet, M., Moreno, G., Sancho, G., Itano, D.G., Aumeeruddy, R., Girard, C., Million, J., Fonteneau, A., 2006, Deep diving behavior observed in yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). Aquat. Living Resour. 19, 85–88. 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 (FADs). Mar. Biol. 151, 595–606. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godin, J.-G.J., Morgan, M. J., 1985, Predator avoidance and school size in a cyprinodontid fish, the banded killifish (Fundulus diaphanous Lesueur). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 16, 105–110. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, K.N., Brill, R.W., Chang, R.C.K., 1990, Horizontal and vertical movements of yellowfin and bigeye tuna associated with fish aggregating devices. Fish. Bull. 88, 493–507. Google Scholar
Josse, E., Bach, P., Dagorn, L., 1998, Simultaneous observations of tuna movements and their prey by sonic tracking and acoustic surveys. Hydrobiologia 371(372), 61–69. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitsunaga, Y., Endo, C., Anraku, K., Selorio, Jr. C.M., Babaran, P.R., 2012, Association of early juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares with a network of payaos in the Philippines. Fish. Sci. 78, 15–22. 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., Parrish J.K., 2003, Function of shoaling behaviour in teleosts. In : Pitcher T.J. (Eds) Behaviour of teleost fishes, 2nd edn. New York, Chapman & Hall, pp. 363–439.
Torisawa, S., Takagi, T., Fukuda, H., Ishibashi, Y., Sawada, Y., Okada, T., Miyashita, S., Suzuki, K., Yamane, T., 2007, Schooling behaviour and retinomotor response of juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis under different light intensities. J. Fish Biol. 71, 411–420. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voegeli, F.A., Lacroix, G.L., Anderson, J.M., 1998, Development of miniature pingers for tracking Atlantic salmon smolts at sea. Hydrobiologia 371(372), 35–46. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wankowski, J.W., 1981, Estimated growth of surface-schooling skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, and yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, from the Papua New Guinea region. Fish. Bull. 79, 517–545. Google Scholar
Yang, R.T., Nose, Y., Hiyama, Y., 1969, A comparative study on the age and growth of yellowfin tuna from Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Bull. Far Seas Fish. Res. Lab. 2, 1–21. Google Scholar