Abstract
The Arctic experiences dramatic annual cycles in environmental condition, including winters that can last two thirds of the year. During these long winters, coastal waters are covered in ice and show very low levels of productivity which presumably can be stressful for organisms which remain in the same ecosystem year-round. However, the activities or behavior of marine Arctic residents during this period is not well understood. Fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) are residents of Tremblay Sound, Nunavut, Canada which freezes over entirely from October to June each year. We characterized the behavior of a small number of individuals (n = 7) beneath sea ice with passive acoustic telemetry to monitor position as well as in situ acceleration and depth over time. Intermittent bursts of acceleration and changes in depth usage indicate that sculpins are not dormant under the winter ice and likely continue their characteristic lie-in-wait foraging. A generalized linear mixed model indicated activity increased marginally while individuals moved to shallower waters as spring approached. These behaviors suggest that sculpin could be exploiting early ice-associated productivity before ice melt begins. The continued activity of sculpin even under sea ice provides potential insight to how residents persist in Arctic winters.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the GitHub repository, https://github.com/nhermann1/sculpinAP_PolBiol_23.
References
Adams SB, Schmetterling DA (2007) Freshwater sculpins: phylogenetics to ecology. Trans Am Fish Soc 136:1736–1741. https://doi.org/10.1577/t07-023.1
AMAP (2017) Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA) 2017. Oslo, Norway
Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker BM, Walker S (2015) Linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
Baumgartner MF, Tarrant AM (2017) The physiology and ecology of diapause in marine copepods. Annu Rev Mar Sci 9:387–411. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060505
Berge J, Renaud PE, Darnis G et al (2015) In the dark: a review of ecosystem processes during the Arctic polar night. Prog Oceanogr 139:258–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.08.005
Biro PA, Morton AE, Post JR, Parkinson EA (2004) Over-winter lipid depletion and mortality of age-0 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Can J Fish Aquat Sci 61:1513–1519. https://doi.org/10.1139/F04-083
Breen MJ, Ruetz CR, Thompson KJ, Kohler SL (2009) Movements of mottled sculpins (Cottus bairdii) in a Michigan stream: how restricted are they? Can J Fish Aquat Sci 66:31–41. https://doi.org/10.1139/F08-189
Broell F, Noda T, Wright S et al (2013) Accelerometer tags: detecting and identifying activities in fish and the effect of sampling frequency. J Exp Biol 216:1255–1264. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.077396
Brownscombe J, Gutowsky L, Danylchuk A, Cooke S (2014) Foraging behaviour and activity of a marine benthivorous fish estimated using tri-axial accelerometer biologgers. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 505:241–251. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10786
Cruz-Font L, Shuter BJ, Blanchfield PJ (2016) Energetic costs of activity in wild lake trout: a calibration study using acceleration transmitters and positional telemetry. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 73:1237–1250. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0323
Edwards JE, Hedges KJ, Kessel ST, Hussey NE (2022) Multi-year acoustic tracking reveals transient movements, recurring hotspots, and apparent seasonality in the coastal-offshore presence of Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus). Front Mar Sci 9:902854. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.902854
Florko KRN, Tai TC, Cheung WWL et al (2021) Predicting how climate change threatens the prey base of Arctic marine predators. Ecol Lett 24:2563–2575. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13866
Fossheim M, Primicerio R, Johannesen E et al (2015) Recent warming leads to a rapid borealization of fish communities in the Arctic. Nat Clim Change 5:673–677. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2647
Freitas C, Villegas-Ríos D, Moland E, Olsen EM (2021) Sea temperature effects on depth use and habitat selection in a marine fish community. J Anim Ecol 90:1787–1800. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13497
Goldberg SR, Yasutake WT, West RL (1987) Summer spawning in the Fourhorn Sculpin, Myoxocephalus quadricornis, from Alaska. Can Field-Nat 101:457
Gradinger R, Bluhm B (2010) Timing of Ice algal grazing by the Arctic nearshore benthic amphipod Onisimus litoralis. Arctic 63:355–358
Gray MA, Cunjak RA, Munkittrick KR (2004) Site fidelity of slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus): insights from stable carbon and nitrogen analysis. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 61:1717–1722. https://doi.org/10.1139/F04-108
Gray BP, Norcross BL, Beaudreau AH et al (2017) Food habits of Arctic staghorn sculpin (Gymnocanthus tricuspis) and shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) in the northeastern Chukchi and western Beaufort Seas. Deep-Sea Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr 135:111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.05.013
Gray MA, Curry RA, Arciszewski TJ et al (2018) The biology and ecology of slimy sculpin: a recipe for effective environmental monitoring. FACETS 3:103–127. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2017-0069
Hammer L, Hussey N, Marcoux M et al (2022) Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) movement dynamics relative to ice breakup in a high Arctic embayment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 682:221–236. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13939
Harwood LA, Babaluk JA (2014) Spawning, overwintering and summer feeding habitats used by anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) of the Hornaday River, Northwest Territories, Canada. Arctic 67:449–461. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4422
Heide-Jørgensen MM, Dietz RR, Laidre KK, Richard PP (2002) Autumn movements, home ranges, and winter density of narwhals (Monodon monoceros) tagged in Tremblay Sound, Baffin Island. Polar Biol 25:331–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-001-0347-6
Hermann NT (2021) Seasonal feeding and movement responses of resident sculpin in the Canadian Arctic. University of New Hampshire, Durham
Heupel MR, Semmens JM, Hobday AJ (2006) Automated acoustic tracking of aquatic animals: scales, design and deployment of listening station arrays. Mar Freshw Res 57:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF05091
Hussey NE, Kessel ST, Aarestrup K et al (2015) Aquatic animal telemetry: a panoramic window into the underwater world. Science 348:1255642–1255642. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1255642
Ivanova SV, Johnson TB, Metcalfe B, Fisk AT (2021) Spatial distribution of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) across seasonal thermal cycles in a large lake. Freshw Biol 66:615–627. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13665
Jepsen N, Schreck C, Clements S, Thorstad EB (2005) A brief discussion on the 2% tag/bodymass rule of thumb. In: Spedicato M, Lembo G, Marmulla G (eds) Aquatic telemetry: advances and applications. Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Fish Telemetry held in Europe. Ustica, Italy, 9–13 June 2003. pp 255–259
Kane EA, Higham TE (2012) Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand across species of marine sculpin. Zoology 115:223–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2012.03.002
Kessel ST, Cooke SJ, Heupel MR et al (2014) A review of detection range testing in aquatic passive acoustic telemetry studies. Rev Fish Biol Fish 24:199–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-013-9328-4
Landry JJ, Kessel ST, McLean MF et al (2019) Movement types of an arctic benthic fish, shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius), during open-water periods in response to biotic and abiotic factors. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 76:626–635. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0389
Landsman SJ, Martins EG, Gutowsky LFG et al (2015) Locomotor activity patterns of muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) assessed using tri-axial acceleration sensing acoustic transmitters. Environ Biol Fishes 98:2109–2121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-015-0433-1
Leonardsson K, Bengtsson Å, Linnér J (1988) Size-selective predation by fourhorn sculpin, Myoxocephalus quadricornis (L.) (Pisces) on Mesidotea entomon (L.) (Crustacea, Isopoda). Hydrobiologia 164:213–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005941
Marsden JE, Blanchfield PJ, Brooks JL et al (2021) Using untapped telemetry data to explore the winter biology of freshwater fish. Rev Fish Biol Fish. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-021-09634-2
Moore IA, Moore JW (1974) Food of Shorthorn Sculpin, Myoxocephalus scorpius, in the Cumberland Sound Area of Baffin Island. J Fish Res Board Can 31:355–359
Murchie KJ, Cooke SJ, Danylchuk AJ, Suski CD (2011) Estimates of field activity and metabolic rates of bonefish (Albula vulpes) in coastal marine habitats using acoustic tri-axial accelerometer transmitters and intermittent-flow respirometry. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 396:147–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2010.10.019
NASA (2021) NASA Worldview. In: NASA Worldview Part NASA Earth Obs. Syst. Data Inf. Syst. EOSDIS. https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov
Piersma T, van Gils JA (2011) The Flexible Phenotype: A Body-Centered Integration of Ecology, Physiology, and Behavior. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
R Core Team (2020) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria
Søreide JE, Leu E, Berge J et al (2010) Timing of blooms, algal food quality and Calanus glacialis reproduction and growth in a changing Arctic. Glob Change Biol 16:3154–3163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02175.x
Speers-Roesch B, Norin T, Driedzic WR (2018) The benefit of being still: energy savings during winter dormancy in fish come from inactivity and the cold, not from metabolic rate depression. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 285:20181593. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1593
Whiteley AR, Gende SM, Gharrett AJ, Tallmon DA (2009) Background matching and color-change plasticity in colonizing freshwater sculpin populations following rapid deglaciation. Evolution 63:1519–1529. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00627.x
Wilson SM, Hinch SG, Eliason EJ et al (2013) Calibrating acoustic acceleration transmitters for estimating energy use by wild adult Pacific salmon. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 164:491–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2012.12.002
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge with gratitude the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization and all members of the community of Mittimatalik for granting access to and assistance in the field where research was conducted. We acknowledge the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada for funding and organization in the project. NTH was provided funding by the University of New Hampshire.
Funding
University of New Hampshire, University of Windsor, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
NEH, MM, and KJH were responsible for the conception and design of the field program. Early field work was conducted by NEH and LJH, and later included NTH. NBF and NEH guided analyses initiated by LJH but primarily done by NTH. Writing was done by NTH with review completed by all other authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
All authors certify that they have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this manuscript.
Ethical approval
All handling of fishes was conducted in compliance with approved guidelines from both the Universities of Windsor (AUPP:#17–12) and New Hampshire (IACUC:#180602). Sampling methods and numbers were also approved by the local Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Hermann, N.T., Hammer, L.J., Hussey, N.E. et al. Behavior of Arctic fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) beneath winter sea ice assessed with passive acoustic telemetry in Tremblay Sound (Baffin Island, Canada). Polar Biol 46, 1151–1158 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03182-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03182-0