Event Abstract Back to Event Response to habitat-associated cues by sand smelt larvae Ana M. Faria1*, Frederico Almada1, Goncalo Silva1, Sara Martins-Cardoso1 and Emanuel J. Gonçalves1 1 MARE-ISPA, Portugal The use of sensory cues to navigate and orient to habitats has been a major research question in the field of ecological research in the last decades. Fish larvae can use a set of sensory cues to detect and discriminate between potential settlement sites. Many previous studies have shown that fish are able to respond to a variety of chemical signals, such as habitat and conspecifics, and consequently locate a critical nursery habitat. However, the use of olfactory cues for habitat selection has been mostly addressed for coral-reef fishes, with a clear lack of literature regarding the use of olfactory cues in marine, temperate fish species. Here we investigated the ability of sand-smelt (Atherina presbyter) larvae to discriminate between odours from different rocky reefs, and then tested the ability to discriminate between chemical signals of conspecifics from its own site and conspecifics from another site (kin recognition). Water and schools of sand-smelt larvae were collected in three different rocky reefs: Portinho da Arrábida (ARR), Avencas (AV), and Albufeira (ALB). Only larvae from ARR were subjected to olfactory choice tests; larvae from AV and ALB were used as conspecifics odour source. Our results suggest that even nearby reefs smell different and that fish larvae can tell the difference. Fish also exhibited a strong preference for conspecific cues from conspecifics of their natal reef when tested against odours of conspecifics of the “foreigner” reefs. Moreover, results suggest that both cues are equally relevant. This evidence comes from the fact that the combination of reef odour with conspecific odours is more attractive to sand smelt larvae than each cue in isolation, and when conspecific and reef cues are tested against each other, there is no clear preference for neither cues. Acknowledgements This work had the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013, and a grant to Ana M. Faria (SFRH/BPD/68673/2010). Authors would like to thank António Roleira, Henrique Folhas and Pedro Duarte-Coelho for field and laboratory assistance. Keywords: Fish orientation, olfactory cues, habitat, Kin recognition, temperate fish larvae Conference: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management Citation: Faria AM, Almada F, Silva G, Martins-Cardoso S and Gonçalves EJ (2019). Response to habitat-associated cues by sand smelt larvae. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00008 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 May 2018; Published Online: 07 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Ana M Faria, MARE-ISPA, Lisbon, Portugal, 1149-041, Portugal, afaria@ispa.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Ana M Faria Frederico Almada Goncalo Silva Sara Martins-Cardoso Emanuel J Gonçalves Google Ana M Faria Frederico Almada Goncalo Silva Sara Martins-Cardoso Emanuel J Gonçalves Google Scholar Ana M Faria Frederico Almada Goncalo Silva Sara Martins-Cardoso Emanuel J Gonçalves PubMed Ana M Faria Frederico Almada Goncalo Silva Sara Martins-Cardoso Emanuel J Gonçalves Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.