Evolution of cannibalism in the larval stage of pelagic fish

Abstract

Larvae of several ocean pelagic fish species, such as tunas and marlins, have been known to have large jaws, but the ecological significance of this unique morphological character has been hardly analyzed in evolutionary ecology. Pelagic spawners produce small and nutrition-poor ova, and spawning and nursery grounds of the open ocean migratory fishes are oligotrophic. We hypothesize that cannibalism would be a possible life style in the larval period and the large mouth gape would be an adaptive morphological characteristic for a cannibal in the oligotrophic pelagic environment. We showed that mouth gape size of the open ocean pelagic fish is significantly larger than that of offshore/coastal pelagic fish in larval period. A mathematical model demonstrated that cannibalism would tend to evolve in high sea environment. Our findings suggest an evolutionary pattern of cannibalism trait in the larval stage of pelagic fishes.