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Larval size-distributions of Ariosoma balearicum cryptic species during the March–April season in the Sargasso Sea Subtropical Convergence Zone

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Abstract

Leptocephali of the shallow-water congrid eel Ariosoma balearicum are abundant during February–April in the Sargasso Sea, and larval and adult meristic data indicates this species includes several regional subpopulations/cryptic species. Four multiple-transect larval surveys (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017) were used to examine the geographic size distribution of two myomere-count types of A. balearicum leptocephali. High-count (HC) larvae were consistently mostly between 80 and 100 mm in size (60–132 mm; 87.9 ± 6.8 mm) as observed previously, and frequently had narrow size ranges. The usually larger LC larvae (78–176 mm; 111.4 ± 26.7 mm) were more abundant in western or central areas. HC larvae tended to decrease in size from west to east and increase from south to north. Catch rates were geographically variable relative to hydrographic structure/frontal positions across the wide 2015 sampling area. Mitochondrial 16 s rRNA sequences of HC and LC larvae show species-level differences, providing evidence of the existence of two cryptic species with different larval dispersal strategies in the Sargasso Sea subtropical gyre region. The HC larvae disperse widely into the gyre, seemingly through Gulf Stream recirculation or eastward frontal-jet flows, and apparently must use directional swimming to cross the Florida Current to recruit into the South Atlantic Bight. LC leptocephali may mostly be retained near the Bahamas, with few larvae dispersing into the gyre. This seems to indicate natural selection occurred for spawning location and larval behavior due to the powerful Florida Current/Gulf Stream, resulting in two completely different spawning and larval dispersal strategies within a local geographic region.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the captains and crews of the R/V Walther Herwig III and the R/V Maria S. Merian of Germany for their assistance in deploying the sampling gear, and the technicians and other scientists from several different countries for their assistance to sort the leptocephali out of the plankton samples. We also acknowledge the importance of the Sargasso Seas sampling surveys of J. D. McCleave and of the larval and adult meristic data obtained by D. G. Smith in building an information base about this species in the WNA. Funding for the cruises was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (2011, 2014, 2017) and by the Senate Commission on Oceanography of the German Research Foundation (DFG) (2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Science and Resources, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, 1866 Kameino, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-0880, Japan

    Michael J. Miller & Katsumi Tsukamoto

  2. Department of Aquatic Bioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Michael J. Miller, Mari Kuroki & Katsumi Tsukamoto

  3. Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology, Herwigstraße 31, 27572, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Lasse Marohn, Klaus Wysujack, Marko Freese, Jan-Dag Pohlmann, Tina Blancke, Peggy Weist & Reinhold Hanel

  4. Ifremer, Délégation de La Réunion, Rue Jean Bertho, BP 60 - 97822, Le Port Cedex, France

    Sylvain Bonhommeau

  5. Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University, 3327-204 Nakamachi, Nara, 631-8505, Japan

    Shun Watanabe

  6. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, 850 route de la mer, C.P. 1000, Mont-Joli, Québec, G5H 3Z4, Canada

    Martin Castonguay

  7. Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Freshwater Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Stångholmsvägen 2, SE-178 93, Drottningholm, Sweden

    Håkan Westerberg

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Miller, M.J., Marohn, L., Wysujack, K. et al. Larval size-distributions of Ariosoma balearicum cryptic species during the March–April season in the Sargasso Sea Subtropical Convergence Zone. Environ Biol Fish 102, 1231–1252 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-019-00900-8

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