Ontogeny of critical swimming speeds for larval and pelagic juvenile rockfishes (Sebastes spp., family Scorpaenidae)

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 500:231-243 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10669 Ontogeny of critical swimming speeds for larval and pelagic juvenile rockfishes (Sebastes spp., family Scorpaenidae) Neosha S Kashef1,2,*, Susan M. Sogard2, Rebecca Fisher2,3, John L. Largier4 1Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Rd., Moss Landing, California 95039, USA 2Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 110 Shaffer Rd., Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA 3Australian Institute of Marine Science, The UWA Oceans Institute, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia 4Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis, Bodega Bay, California 94923, USA *Corresponding author: neosha.kashef@noaa.gov ABSTRACT: Understanding the mechanisms that affect larval dispersal is critical to management of marine populations. Rockfishes Sebastes spp. do not settle to benthic habitats immediately after metamorphosis, but instead remain in the water column for weeks to months. Movements of larvae and pelagic juveniles during their months at sea are largely unknown. It is traditionally thought that young rockfishes are planktonic, moving at the mercy of ocean currents, but this assumption is unverified. In this study, swimming capabilities (critical speed) of larval and pelagic juvenile stages of 6 rockfish species (blue [S. mystinus], yellowtail [S. flavidus], brown [S. auriculatus], kelp [S. atrovirens], gopher [S. carnatus], and splitnose [S. diploproa]) were evaluated to determine their ability to behaviorally influence dispersal. Rockfish larvae have critical speeds of 0.5 to 1.8 cm s-1 (1 to 3 body lengths per second [bl s-1]) at parturition, whereas newly settled juveniles are capable of swimming 8.6 to 53.5 cm s-1 (5 to 9 bl s-1). Swimming ability increases throughout ontogeny and postflexion rockfishes can swim faster than typical water motions in their natural habitat (i.e. mean ocean currents off central California). Critical speeds for Sebastes spp. are substantially lower than those for larvae and juveniles of tropical species at similar body sizes. Rockfishes, however, have swimming speeds at settlement comparable to some tropical species, as rockfishes settle at larger sizes. The increasing ability of rockfishes to outswim currents during their pelagic phase (acting as nekton rather than plankton) may promote individual survival as well as enhance retention and/or long-distance dispersal—thus swimming has important implications for population connectivity and sustainability. KEY WORDS: Dispersal · Sebastes spp. · Rockfish · Larvae · Swimming Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Kashef NS, Sogard SM, Fisher R, Largier JL (2014) Ontogeny of critical swimming speeds for larval and pelagic juvenile rockfishes (Sebastes spp., family Scorpaenidae). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 500:231-243. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10669 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 500. Online publication date: March 17, 2014 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2014 Inter-Research.