Performance of the long-snouted seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus, under warming conditions

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Science

Ana Beatriz Costa¹  Ana Margarida Faria¹  Ana Filipa Lopes¹  Gonçalo Silva¹  Miguel Correia² 

[1] MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, ISPA, Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal;MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, ISPA, Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal;IUCN Species Survival Commission - Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Group, c/o Project Seahorse, Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada;

关键词: activity;    feed intake;    climate change;    syngnathidae;    body condition;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2023.1136748

 received in 2023-01-03, accepted in 2023-03-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Temperature is a determinant cue for several behavioral, physiological, and metabolic processes in fish, which occur within a range set to optimize species fitness. Understanding how ocean warming will impact species, at individual and population levels, is, therefore, of utmost relevance for management and conservation purposes. This knowledge assumes particular relevance when it comes to species with unique life history traits that experience multiple threats, such as seahorses. This study aimed to assess the effects of warming on growth, feed intake, and behavioral patterns of the long-snouted seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus. Fish were collected, before the breeding season, in the Sado estuary, Portugal, and subsequently exposed for an 8-week period to three different temperatures: 17°C, 20°C, and 24°C. Three times a week, behavioral observations were performed. Feed intake was measured every day and individuals were weighed once a week. Results indicate differences in behavioral responses of seahorses exposed to increasingly warming conditions. Under extreme temperature conditions (24°C), fish were more active, and fed more, but this increment of energy through feeding did not translate into increased growth in weight. Altogether, these results indicate that Sado’s population of H. guttulatus may become under thermal stress when exposed, for a long term, to warming conditions that are expected to occur by the end of the century.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Costa, Correia, Silva, Lopes and Faria