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Successive use of different habitats during the early life stages of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii in Akkeshi waters on the east coast of Hokkaido

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  • Coastal Ecosystem Complex (CEC)
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Abstract

Distributions of eggs, larvae and juveniles of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii were surveyed in Lake Akkeshi and the connecting Akkeshi Bay on the Pacific coast of eastern Hokkaido. Eggs were found attached to seagrasses and seaweeds in the densely vegetated eastern inner lake. Larvae (7.1–34.9 mm total length) were distributed in the less densely vegetated inner lake during April and June. Juveniles (35.0–89.6 mm) were collected in the central and western parts of the lake. The sites containing juveniles were less densely vegetated with water temperatures lower than 20 °C from June to August. When the water temperature of the entire lake rose to 20 °C in late summer, juveniles appeared to move from the lake to the bottom layer of Akkeshi Bay, which has lower temperatures. Thus, in Akkeshi waters, C. pallasii successively used different habitats during its egg, larval and juvenile stages. A comparison of the current limited distribution of eggs and larvae with the distribution over the entire lake and bay areas in the 1950s and 1960s (periods of large catch size) indicates that the spawning grounds and larval habitats of C. pallasii have contracted to the lake area due to low spawning stock biomass in recent years.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the local fishermen S. Mizohata, A. Tsuda and K. Takata; S. Takeyama of the Akkeshi-cho Oyster Seedlings Research Center; and the staff of the Akkeshi Fisheries Cooperative Association for their help with collecting C. pallasii in Akkeshi waters. We thank Ms. E. Genta, M. Okuizumi, Y. Suzuki, T. Yamamoto, T. Degoshi, S. Takeda and M. Sasaki (Akkeshi Laboratory, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research and Education Agency) for their help in conducting this study. We also thank the three reviewers and the editor for valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by the Coastal Ecosystem Complex Project of the Ocean Resources Use Promotion Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Miyako Laboratory, Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Sakiyama 4-9-1, Miyako, Iwate, 027-0097, Japan

    Norio Shirafuji

  2. Akkeshi Laboratory, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Tsukushikoi 2-1, Akkeshi-cho, Akkeshi-gun, Hokkaido, 088-1108, Japan

    Toru Nakagawa, Naoto Murakami & Sayaka Ito

  3. Kushiro Laboratory, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Katsurakoi 116, Kushiro, Hokkaido, 085-0802, Japan

    Toshihiro Onitsuka

  4. Amami Laboratory, Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Sakiyamahara 955-5, Hyo, Setouchi-cho, Oshima-gun, Kagoshima, 894-2414, Japan

    Taizo Morioka

  5. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Yoshiro Watanabe

Authors
  1. Norio Shirafuji
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  2. Toru Nakagawa
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  3. Naoto Murakami
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  4. Sayaka Ito
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  5. Toshihiro Onitsuka
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  6. Taizo Morioka
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  7. Yoshiro Watanabe
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Correspondence to Norio Shirafuji.

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This article is sponsored by the Coastal Ecosystem Complex Project of the Ocean Resource Use Promotion Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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Shirafuji, N., Nakagawa, T., Murakami, N. et al. Successive use of different habitats during the early life stages of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii in Akkeshi waters on the east coast of Hokkaido. Fish Sci 84, 227–236 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-018-1175-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-018-1175-8

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