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Cross-generation trophic ecology of Dosidicus gigas in the eastern-central Pacific Ocean revealed from isotopic signatures in eye lenses

Fisheries Science volume 88, pages 477–484 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

To compare the trophic ecologies of mother–offspring pairs of the jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas), we examined carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in the eye lens core and lens cortex from 18 D. gigas specimens collected from the equatorial waters of the eastern-central Pacific. Both δ13C and δ15N values in lens cores were smaller than in lens cortexes. Significant difference in δ13C between lens cores and lens cortexes suggested that maternal squid used different habitats as compared with their offspring. Higher variation of δ15N in offspring than maternal squid indicated that maternal squid have a more general feeding strategy than their offspring. The degree of fitting of the probability density distribution curves of δ13C and δ15N and the isotopic niches of mothers and their offspring indicate that these squid have a flexible feeding strategy and that mothers and daughters are spawning in different locations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mrs. Chunxia Gao for the measurement of isotope values. We thank Mrs. Pauline H. Lovell for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript. This work was sponsored by the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning under contract (0810000243), the Postdoctoral Innovative Talent Support Program (BX20200238), the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFD0901404), National Nature Science Foundation of China (41876141) and Shanghai Science and technology innovation action plan (19DZ1207502).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Guan Yu Hu & Meng Yao Huan

  2. College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, 999 Huchenghuan Road, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Guan Yu Hu, Zi Xin Wang, Bi Lin Liu & Xin Jun Chen

  3. National Engineering Research Center for Oceanic Fisheries, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Bi Lin Liu & Xin Jun Chen

  4. The Key Laboratory of Sustainable Exploitation of Oceanic Fisheries Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Bi Lin Liu & Xin Jun Chen

  5. Key Laboratory of Oceanic Fisheries Exploration, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Bi Lin Liu

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  1. Guan Yu Hu
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Hu, G.Y., Wang, Z.X., Liu, B.L. et al. Cross-generation trophic ecology of Dosidicus gigas in the eastern-central Pacific Ocean revealed from isotopic signatures in eye lenses. Fish Sci 88, 477–484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-022-01604-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-022-01604-2

Keywords

  • Dosidicus gigas
  • Eye lenses
  • Ovary
  • Migration patterns
  • Mother–offspring similarity