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Vertical behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares in the southwestern part of Japan based on archival tagging

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Abstract

The behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares in southwestern Japan was investigated using archival tag data from five fish (fork length 52.5–92 cm, days at liberty 26–280 days) released near the Nansei Islands (24–29°N, 122–130°E). Vertical behavior was classified into three patterns: “shallow” (≥50 % of daytime hours at depth of <50 m), “deep” (≥50 % of daytime hours at ≥100 m), and “intermediate” (other than “shallow” or “deep”). The pooled proportion of the number of days of each behavior was 29, 25 and 46 %, respectively. The proportion of “shallow” behavior increased with fish size. The proportion of time spent near the surface at nighttime increased in the colder season, when the thermal gradient was relatively small. Surface-oriented behavior (fish remained at a depth of <10 m for more than 10 min) occurred mainly during nighttime and between November and January. Dives exceeding 500 m were occasionally observed (0.02 day−1), and one fish dived to 1230 m. The results of our study show that yellowfin tuna were typically distributed in the mixed layer or upper thermocline where the water temperature was close to the sea surface temperature and that the vertical behavior was variable.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the staff of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, who organized the tagging project, and to I. Ohta, S. Kondo, K. Maeda, M. Okuhara, J. Sakaki, M. Mizoguchi and A. Nitta, for their assistance with the tagging project. We also thank the staff and crew of the Yonaguni-cho, Itoman, Okinawa-shi, Minatogawa, Yaeyama and Setouchi fisheries cooperatives. We extend our thanks to H. Okamoto, H. Shono and Y. Semba, for their support with the tagging project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Fisheries Research Agency, 5-7-1 Orido, Shimizu, Shizuoka, 424-8633, Japan

    Takayuki Matsumoto

  2. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Takashi Kitagawa & Shingo Kimura

  3. Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8561, Japan

    Shingo Kimura

Authors
  1. Takayuki Matsumoto
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  2. Takashi Kitagawa
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  3. Shingo Kimura
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Correspondence to Takayuki Matsumoto.

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Matsumoto, T., Kitagawa, T. & Kimura, S. Vertical behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares in the southwestern part of Japan based on archival tagging. Fish Sci 79, 417–424 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-013-0614-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-013-0614-9

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