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A Possible Connectivity among Estuarine Tapertail Anchovy (Coilia nasus) Populations in the Yangtze River, Yellow Sea, and Poyang Lake

Estuaries and Coasts volume 39, pages 1762–1768 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Estuarine tapertail anchovy (Coilia nasus) is a highly commercial and valuable anadromous fish species in China. Due to the complex anadromous life cycle, it remains difficult to assess the degree of connectivity among groups of C. nasus in the Yangtze River, its connecting lakes, and adjacent seas. In this study, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) was used to analyze the element composition in the otolith nucleus region of C. nasus specimens from the Yangtze River Estuary, Poyang Lake, and Nantong coastal waters in the estuary adjacent to the Yellow Sea. The content ratios of seven elements (Na, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Sr, and Ba) to Ca in the nucleus indicated a close relationship among C. nasus specimens collected from the Yangtze River Estuary (Spring group), Poyang Lake, and Yellow Sea, suggesting a possible connectivity mechanism for anchovies in the three water bodies. Poyang Lake, Yangtze River, and Yellow Sea seem to be the natal lake, migration pathway, and feeding ground, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31372533), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20131089), and “948” Program of the Ministry of Agriculture (2014-S6). The authors would like to thank Dr. Karin Limburg, Mr. Davison Daniel Khumbanyiwa, and anonymous reviewers for their critical reading and comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecological Environment and Resources of Inland Fisheries, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi, 214081, China

    Tao Jiang, Hongbo Liu & Jian Yang

  2. College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Mingjie Lu

  3. Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agriculture University, Wuxi, 214081, China

    Tingting Chen

Authors
  1. Tao Jiang
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  2. Hongbo Liu
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  3. Mingjie Lu
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  4. Tingting Chen
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  5. Jian Yang
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Correspondence to Jian Yang.

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Communicated by Karin E. Limburg

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Jiang, T., Liu, H., Lu, M. et al. A Possible Connectivity among Estuarine Tapertail Anchovy (Coilia nasus) Populations in the Yangtze River, Yellow Sea, and Poyang Lake. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 1762–1768 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-016-0107-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-016-0107-z

Keywords

  • Connectivity
  • Coilia nasus
  • LA-ICPMS
  • Otolith nucleus
  • Element composition
  • Otolith microchemistry