Abstract
Spiny icefish (Chaenodraco wilsoni) and ocellated icefish (Chionodraco rastrospinosus) are two abundant channichthyids in the larval fish assemblages of the Ross Sea. However, little information is available about the early-life history traits of the two icefishes, which have limited the understanding of the biology and ecology of icefishes. The present study aims to investigate the early-life history traits of C. wilsoni and C. rastrospinosus in the Ross Sea. Through the analysis of sagittal otolith microstructure, the size and timing of hatching, onset of exogenous feeding, and growth rate were assessed in the two icefishes. In C. wilsoni, individuals with a standard length (SL) of 14–43 mm were estimated ages of 28–100 days. An exponential model was well fitted to the age–length dataset, indicating a mean growth rate of 0.34 mm day−1. Larval hatching occurred at a size of 9.28 mm and was distributed over a relatively long period, lasting from October to December. The onset of exogenous feeding took place between 16 and 29 days after hatching. In C. rastrospinosus, individuals with SL of 14–48 mm were estimated ages of 29–126 days and mean growth rate of 0.38 mm day−1. The larval size at hatching was estimated as 10.90 mm and hatching dates extended over a long period from September to December. The yolk-sac duration estimated from hatching to the onset of the exogenous feeding check was 21–41 days, which was longer than in other channichthyids. This study provides new information on the biological features and life history strategies of C. wilsoni and C. rastrospinosus.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akaike H (1973) Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In: Petran BN, F Csaaki (eds) Second international symposium on information theory. Akademia Kiado, Budepest, pp 267–281
Campana SE (2001) Accuracy, precision, and quality control in age determination, including a review of the use and abuse of age validation methods. J Fish Biol 59:197–242. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfbi.2001.1668
CCAMLR (2012) Report of the Working Group on Fish Stock Assessment. In: Report of the Thirty-first Meeting of the Scientific Committee (SC-CAMLR-XXXI), Annex 7, Appendix G. Hobart, Australia
Collins MA, Brickle P, Brown J, Belchier M (2010) The Patagonian toothfish: biology, ecology and fishery. Adv Mar Biol 58:227–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065.2881(10)58004.0
Cushing DH (1990) Plankton production and year-class strength in fish populations - an update of the match mismatch hypothesis. Adv Mar Biol 26:249–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60202-3
Davis LB, Hofmann EE, Klinck JM, Pinones A, Dinniman MS (2017) Distributions of krill and Antarctic silverfish and correlations with environmental variables in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 584:45–65. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12347
Efremenko VN (1985) Illustrated guide to fish larvae of the Southern Ocean. Biomass Handbook 22:74
Fey DP (1999) Effects of preservation technique on the length of larval fish: Methods of correcting estimates and their implication for studying growth rates. Arch Fish Mar Res 47:17–29
Galarza JA, Carreras-Carbonell J, Macpherson E, Pascual M, Roques S, Turner GF, Rico C (2009) The influence of oceanographic fronts and early-life-history traits on connectivity among littoral fish species. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:1473–1478. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806804106
Granata A, Cubeta A, Guglielmo L, Sidoti O, Greco S, Vacchi M, La Mesa M (2002) Ichthyoplankton abundance and distribution in the Ross Sea during 1987–1996. Polar Biol 25:187–202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-001-0326-y
Guglielmo L, Granata A, Greco S (1997) Distribution and abundance of postlarval and juvenile Pleuragramma antarcticum (Pisces, Nototheniidae) off Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica). Polar Biol 19:37–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050214
Hanchet S, Dunn A, Parker S, Horn P, Stevens D, Mormede S (2015) The Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni): biology, ecology, and life history in the Ross Sea region. Hydrobiologia 761:397–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2435-6
Kamler E (2002) Ontogeny of yolk-feeding fish: an ecological perspective. Rev Fish Biol Fisher 12:79–103. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022603204337
Kellermann A (1990) Catalogue of early life stages of Antarctic notothenioid fish. Ber Polarforsch 67:45–136. https://doi.org/10.2312/BzP_0067_1990
Kellermann AK, Gauldie RW, Ruzicka JJ (2002) Otolith microincrements in the Antarctic fishes Notothenia coriiceps and Pseudochaenichthys georgianus. Polar Biol 25:799–807. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-002-0432-5
Kellermann A (1996) Midwater fish ecology. In: Ross RM, Hofmann E, Quetin LB (eds) Foundations for Ecological Research West of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Research Series, American, pp 231–256
Kock KH (1989) Reproduction in Antarctic fish around Elephant Island. Arch Fisch Wiss 39:171–210
Kock KH (1992) Antarctic fish and fisheries. Cambridge University Publishing, Britain
Kock KH (2005) Antarctic icefishes (Channichthyidae): a unique family of fishes. A review. Part II Polar Biol 28:897–909. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0019-z
Kock KH, Kellermann A (1991) Reproduction in Antarctic notothenioid fish. Antarct Sci 3:125–150
Kock KH, Pshenichnov L, Jones CD, Grorger J, Riehl R (2008) The biology of the spiny icefish Chaenodraco wilsoni Regan, 1914. Polar Biol 31:381–393. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0366-z
La Mesa M, Ashford J (2008a) Age and early life history of juvenile Scotia Sea icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus, from Elephant and the South Shetland Islands. Polar Biol 31:221–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0351-6
La Mesa M, Ashford J (2008b) Age and growth of ocellated icefish, Chionodraco rastrospinosus DeWitt and Hureau, 1979, from the South Shetland Islands. Polar Biol 31:1333–1342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0471-7
La Mesa M, EaStman JT (2012) Antarctic silverfish: life strategies of a key species in the high-Antarctic ecosystem. Fish and Fish 13:241–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00427.x
La Mesa M, Felice AD, Jones CD, Koch KH (2009) Age and growth of spiny icefish (Chaenodraco wilsoni regan, 1914) off Joinville-D’Urville Islands (Antarctic Peninsula). CCAMLR Sci 16:115–130
La Mesa M, Catalano B, Greco S (2011) Larval feeding of Chionodraco hamatus (Pisces, Channichthyidae) in the Ross Sea and its relation to environmental conditions. Polar Biol 34:127–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0866-0
La Mesa M, Catalano B, Greco S (2012) Some biological characteristics of early larvae Dacodraco hunteri (Notothenioidei: Channichthyidae) in the western Ross Sea. Polar Biol 35:655–660. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1111-1
La Mesa M, Catalano B, Jones CD (2013a) Early life history of the ocellated icefish, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Sci 25:373–380. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012001095
La Mesa M, Catalano B, Koubbi P, Jones CD (2013b) Early ontogeny of the mackerel icefish, Champsocephalus gunnari, in the southern Scotia Arc. Polar Biol 36:797–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-013-1304-x
La Mesa M, Riginella E, Catalano B, Jones CD, Mazzoldi C (2017) Maternal contribution to spawning and early life-history strategies of the genus Lepidonotothen (Nototheniidae, Perciformes) along the southern Scotia Arc. Polar Biol 40:1441–1450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-2068-x
Llompart FM, Fernandez DA, Aureliano D, La Mesa L (2020) Life-history traits of the Magellan plunderfish Harpagifer bispinis (Forster, 1801) in the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, South America). Polar Biol 43:1643–1654. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02735-x
Loeb VJ, Kellermann A, Koubbi P, North AW, White MG (1993) Antarctic larval fish assemblages: a review. B Mar Sci 53:416–449
Morley SA, Belchier M, Dickson J, Mulvey T (2005) Daily otolith increment validation in larval mackerel icefish, Champsocephalus gunnari. Fish Res 75:200–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2005.04.008
North AW (1998) Growth of young fish during winter and summer at South Georgia, Antarctica. Polar Biol 19:198–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050235
North AW (2010) Early life history strategies of notothenioids at South Georgia. J Fish Biol 58:496–505. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfbi.2000.1469
North AW, Kellermann A (1990) Key to the early stages of Antarctic fish. Ber Polarforsch 67:1–44
Papetti C, Zane L, Patarnello T (2010) Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the icefish Chionodraco rastrospinosus (Perciformes, Notothenioidea, Channichthyidae). Mol Ecol Notes 6:207–209. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2005.01194.x
Parker SJ, Mormede S, Hanchet SM, Devries A, Canese S, Ghigliotti L (2019) Monitoring Antarctic toothfish in McMurdo Sound to evaluate the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area. Antarctic Sci 31:195–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102019000245
Prutko VG (2004) Observer notes (Subarea 88.1). WG-FSA-04/89, CCAMLR, Hobart, Australia
Pshenichnov LK (1988) Structure of the populations of Wilson’s ice fish on the marginal shelf rises of the Cosmonauts Sea. Biological resources of the Thalassobathyal zone of the World Ocean. VNIRO, Moscow, pp 58–59
Purdom CE (1993) Genetics and fish breeding. J Genet 72:105–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02927927
Radtke RL, Kellermann A (1991) Microstructural analysis of growth patterns in the early life history of Antarctic fishes. In: Di Prisco G, Maresca B, Tota B (eds) Biology of Antarctic fish. Springer, Berlin, pp 101–115
Riginella E, Mazzoldi C, Ashford J, Jones CD, Morgan C, La Nesa M (2016) Life history strategies of the Scotia Sea icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus, along the Southern Scotia Ridge. Polar Biol 39:497–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1802-0
Smith WO, Ainley DG, Cattaneo-Vietti R (2018) Trophic interactions within the Ross Sea continental shelf ecosystem. Philos T R Soc B 362:95–111. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1956
Traczyk R, Meyer-Rochow VB, Hughes RM (2021) Age determination in the icefish Pseudochaenichthys georgianus (Channichthyidae) based on multiple methods using otoliths Aquat Biol 30:1–18. https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00736
Traczyk R, Meyer-Rochow VB (2019) Age Structure and Biomass of the Icefish Pseudochaenichthys georgianus Norman (Channichthyidae) Between 1976 and 2009: a Possible Link to Climate Change. Ocean Polar Res 41:233–250. https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2019.41.4.233
Vacchi M, Williams R, La Mesa M (1996) Reproduction in three species of fish from the Ross Sea and Mawson Sea. Antarctic Sci 8:185–192. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102096000259
Vacchi M, La Mesa M, Dalu M, MacDonald J (2003) Early life stages of the Antarctic Silverfish, Pleuragramma antarcticum in Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea. Antarctic Sci 16:299–305. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102004002135
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the scientific staff and the crew aboard the 36th Chinese National Antarctica Research Expeditions for their support in sampling processing and data collection. We are grateful to Dr. Dieter Piepenburg the editor of PB, Dr. Mauricio F. Landaeta and to one anonymous reviewer, whose suggestions greatly improved the early draft of the manuscript. Finally, we thank Nature Research Editing Service for revising language. This study was financially supported by the research project “Impact and Response of Antarctic Seas to Climate Change, IRASCC2020-2022” (Grant No. IRASCC 01-02-05C) from Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA), Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
MD performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the draft of the manuscript. YT and CZ conceived and designed of the study and helped to revise the final manuscript. YL, ZY, and CZ collected the fish samples. CZ provides technical assistance. CL assisted sample processing. YT and JH provided funding for the study. All authors read and approved the submitted version.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and that all applicable institutional, national, or international guidelines for the use and care of animals were strictly followed in the present study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Duan, M., Zhang, C., Liu, Y. et al. Early-life history traits of two icefishes, spiny icefish Chaenodraco wilsoni and ocellated icefish Chionodraco rastrospinosus, in the Ross Sea revealed by otolith microstructure. Polar Biol 45, 427–436 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-03002-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-03002-3