Abstract
Otolith strontium:calcium ratios were used to trace lifetime movements of American eels (Anguilla rostrata) captured in salt-water bays and adjoining freshwater ponds in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Eels were classified into migratory contingents based on their movement patterns. A pond with a pool-and-weir salmonid fishway and a pond drained by a low-gradient channel contained eels that had entered freshwater at all ages, but a pond with a 2.2 m vertical spillway contained only eels that had entered freshwater in the elver year. Salt-water residents were the dominant migratory contingent in salt-water bays (85% of 39), which overturns the paradigm of obligate catadromy for this species. Freshwater residency was the sole pattern found in the pond with the vertical spillway (100% of 12) and the majority contingent in the pond with the low-gradient channel (54% of 24). Inter-habitat shifting was the dominant migratory contingent in eels sampled from the pond with the pool-and-weir fishway (85% of 20). Resident eels were established in salt- and freshwater habitats by the year after their arrival in continental waters. Eels that shifted between habitats increased their rate of inter-habitat shifting with age. The high degree of plasticity in habitat use found in this study is consistent with worldwide Anguillid patterns as revealed by Sr:Ca.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.