Oceanic migration behaviour of tropical Pacific eels from Vanuatu

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Meelis Tambets¹  Kim Aarestrup¹  Roland Kaiser¹  Donna Kalfatak¹  Giorgio Dall#x2019Olmo¹  Finn #xd8kland¹  Robert Schabetsberger¹  Peter I. Miller¹  Ursula Sichrowsky¹ 

关键词: Anguilla;    Catadromy;    Diel vertical migration;    Predator avoidance;    Satellite telemetry;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps10254

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Information on oceanic migrations and spawning areas of tropical Pacific freshwater eels (genus Anguilla) is very limited. Lake Letas and its single outflowing river, Mbe Solomul on Gaua Island, Vanuatu, were surveyed for large migrating individuals. Twenty-four Anguilla marmorata (87 to 142 cm), 39 A. megastoma (50 to 131 cm), and 3 A. obscura (119 to 126 cm) were caught. Seven individuals were tagged with pop-up satellite transmitters and released offshore. One A. marmorata migrated 843 km towards the South Equatorial Current. The tag surfaced only 330 km from the point where the smallest leptocephalus has been captured so far. Tags on A. megastoma and A. obscura popped up within the archipelago. All 3 species exhibited pronounced diel vertical migrations. Eels descended from around 200 m nighttime depth, to 320 (A. obscura), 650 (A. marmorata), and 750 m (A. megastoma) during the day. A clear impact of the lunar cycle on the upper limit of migration depths was found in A. marmorata (full moon: 230 m, new moon: 170 m). These behaviours may be explained as a trade-off between predator avoidance and the necessity to maintain a sufficiently high metabolism for migration.

【 授权许可】

Unknown