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Vertical movement of dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus as recorded by acceleration data-loggers in the northern East China Sea

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Abstract

Environmental changes influence foraging behavior for most animals. Dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus, are epipelagic predators and have a cosmopolitan tropical to warm-temperate (>20°C) distribution. We simultaneously obtained the ambient temperature and the foraging behavior (i.e., swimming speed, depth and tailbeat acceleration) of dolphinfish, using an acceleration data-logger in May, September, October, November 2007, June 2008, May and July 2010 for 8 individuals. Although the dolphinfish spent a mean ± standard deviation of 43.4 ± 27.7% of their time at the surface (0–5 m), dive excursions from the surface (DES) were observed in all individuals and maximum DES depths ranged from 50.1 to 95.4 m. DES events resulted dives below the thermocline for these dolphinfish, and there was a significantly positive relationship between the isothermal layer depth (ILD) and DES depth. Our results demonstrate that dolphinfish avoided the rapid thermal change beyond the thermocline, and their prey is most likely found in the upper layers of the thermocline. Gliding behavior during the DES phase was also observed and dolphinfish gradually descended to deeper waters with gliding. The gliding time was longer when the ILD was deeper, and fish tended to dive deeper. We suggest that dolphinfish adopt gliding behavior to search a broader range of depths for prey, while minimizing energy use.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Kusaba, D. Tawara, Y. Mori and other members of Takahama Fisherman’s Association, H. Tsubakiyama of Wakamatsu fisherman’s Association and the Crew of T/S Kakuyo-maru for our field survey, T. Takagi, K. Komeyama, T. Yasuda and Y. Tamura for help with the calibration experiment of data-loggers, and H. Kimura, S. Tomoe, N. Nakatsuka, H. Murata and Y. Kotera for their field assistance. This study was supported by the Japan Society of the Promotion of Science (No. 19380114) to R.K., the MEXT Special Education Research Collaborative Project Japan, the president’s discretionary fund of Nagasaki University to R.K. and Fisheries Research Agency. Finally we would like to show our appreciation to the anonymous reviewers that provided comments, which greatly improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852–8521, Japan

    Seishiro Furukawa & Ko Fujioka

  2. Institute for East China Sea Research, Nagasaki University, Taira-machi, Nagasaki, 851–2213, Japan

    Ryo Kawabe & Gregory N. Nishihara

  3. Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, Taira-machi, Nagasaki, 851–2213, Japan

    Seiji Ohshimo

  4. National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Fisheries Research Agency, Shimizu, Shizuoka, 424–8633, Japan

    Ko Fujioka

  5. Fisheries Laboratory, Kinki University, Nishimuro, Shirahama 3153, Wakayama, 649–2211, Japan

    Yuichi Tsuda

  6. Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852–8521, Japan

    Takashi Aoshima, Hisao Kanehara & Hideaki Nakata

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  1. Seishiro Furukawa
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  9. Hideaki Nakata
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Correspondence to Seishiro Furukawa.

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Furukawa, S., Kawabe, R., Ohshimo, S. et al. Vertical movement of dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus as recorded by acceleration data-loggers in the northern East China Sea. Environ Biol Fish 92, 89–99 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9818-y

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