Abstract
In the present study, we developed a larval anchovy growth model in relation to sea temperature and food availability via food consumption and metabolic process terms, based on biological data from previous laboratory experiments and field surveys from 2003 to 2006 in Hiuchi-nada Sea, central part of Seto Inland Sea, Japan. To investigate when food shortage for larval anchovy and then recruitment failure occur in Hiuchi-nada Sea, anchovy food requirements were estimated by using the growth model, and we compared the food requirement with anchovy food availability. We applied an estimation method for growth model parameters, Hewett–Johnson p and Q 10, by minimizing the sum of squares of difference between mass-specific growth rates estimated by the models and those by otolith growth analysis. Parameter p was 0.86, slightly higher than typical values, and Q 10 was 2.11, close to the value used for the biological model of larval northern anchovy. Food shortage for anchovy larvae did not occur in Hiuchi-nada Sea, although it was indicated that low food availability led to a low reproductive success rate. The newly developed growth model is considered optimal at present and useful to link environmental conditions and larval growth.
Highlights
The Seto Inland Sea is well known for its high fish production [1]
In the present study, we developed a larval anchovy growth model in relation to sea temperature and food availability via food consumption and metabolic process terms, based on biological data from previous laboratory experiments and field surveys from 2003 to 2006 in Hiuchi-nada Sea, central part of Seto Inland Sea, Japan
To investigate when food shortage for larval anchovy and recruitment failure occur in Hiuchi-nada Sea, anchovy food requirements were estimated by using the growth model, and we compared the food requirement with anchovy food availability
Summary
The Seto Inland Sea is well known for its high fish production [1]. Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus is an important commercial species, accounting for 34 % of the total fish production of 67 9 103 tons in the Seto Inland Sea in 2009. Hiuchi-nada Sea is located in the central part of the Seto Inland Sea between Kurushima Strait and Bisan Strait, a semi-enclosed narrow sea (Fig. 1). It has a size of about 50 9 30 km and an average depth of about 20 m, being a major spawning and fishing ground of Japanese anchovy. Recruitment forecasting has generally not been successful [3], because it is difficult to forecast the survival rate (or mortality rate) from the prerecruitment stage to the recruitment stage
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