Successive use of different habitats during the early life stages of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii in Akkeshi waters on the east coast of Hokkaido

Abstract

Distributions of eggs, larvae and juveniles of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii were surveyed in Lake Akkeshi and the connecting Akkeshi Bay on the Pacific coast of eastern Hokkaido. Eggs were found attached to seagrasses and seaweeds in the densely vegetated eastern inner lake. Larvae (7.1–34.9 mm total length) were distributed in the less densely vegetated inner lake during April and June. Juveniles (35.0–89.6 mm) were collected in the central and western parts of the lake. The sites containing juveniles were less densely vegetated with water temperatures lower than 20 °C from June to August. When the water temperature of the entire lake rose to 20 °C in late summer, juveniles appeared to move from the lake to the bottom layer of Akkeshi Bay, which has lower temperatures. Thus, in Akkeshi waters, C. pallasii successively used different habitats during its egg, larval and juvenile stages. A comparison of the current limited distribution of eggs and larvae with the distribution over the entire lake and bay areas in the 1950s and 1960s (periods of large catch size) indicates that the spawning grounds and larval habitats of C. pallasii have contracted to the lake area due to low spawning stock biomass in recent years.