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Estimating the spawning season of black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii in Hiroshima Bay, Japan, from temporal variation in egg density

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Abstract

We aimed to determine the spawning period of black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii in Hiroshima Bay, Japan, based on the distribution of its eggs, to assist in the resource management of this species. We developed a monoclonal antibody assay for the identification of black sea bream eggs, and appraised its specificity using immunohistochemical staining and DNA barcoding. To estimate the black sea bream spawning season in 2015 and 2016 in the major fishing ground of Hiroshima Bay, we collected 4061 eggs, attributed to pelagic black sea bream using our assay, and calculated the gonadosomatic index of 715 black sea bream adults to confirm the correspondence between egg presence and spawning season. We estimated that the spawning season of this species extended from mid-April until early July in both 2015 and 2016, and that it peaked in early May, about 20 days earlier than the peak reported for this species in the early 1980s. This temporal shift may be related to increasing seawater temperatures in Hiroshima Bay associated with climate change and ocean warming.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Kenji Nomura and Tetsuo Nomura for permission to carry out work on their floating pier, and Kenichi Fujimoto (Maruken Ferryboat) for help with collecting adult fish. We are also grateful to Dr. Carlos Infante (Centro IFAPA El Toruño, Spain) for providing eggs from several species. We would like to express our appreciation to the Hiroshima Prefectural Farming Fisheries Center, Marinetech Company Limited, the Research Institute of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Osaka Prefecture, the Shirahama Experimental Station of Kinki University, and the Yamaguchi Prefectural Sea Farming Public Corporation, for providing spawned fish eggs. We especially appreciate the cooperation and assistance of Dr. Tomoe Hikosaka with sequencing using the ABI 3130xl Sequencer at the Gene Science Division, Natural Science Centre for Basic Research and Development, Hiroshima University. We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. Finally, we thank Steve O’Shea, PhD, from Edanz Group (https://en-author-services.edanzgroup.com/) for editing a draft of this manuscript. This research was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (no. 16K14974 to T. U.) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology of Japan. K. K. was also supported by the Hiroshima University Education and Research Support Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8528, Japan

    Kentaro Kawai & Hiroki Fujita

  2. Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8528, Japan

    Gustavo Sanchez, Shuichi Furusawa & Tetsuya Umino

Authors
  1. Kentaro Kawai
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  2. Hiroki Fujita
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  3. Gustavo Sanchez
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  4. Shuichi Furusawa
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  5. Tetsuya Umino
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Correspondence to Tetsuya Umino.

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Kawai, K., Fujita, H., Sanchez, G. et al. Estimating the spawning season of black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii in Hiroshima Bay, Japan, from temporal variation in egg density. Fish Sci 86, 645–653 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-020-01433-1

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