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Migration patterns and habitat use of the tapertail anchovy Coilia mystus in the Oujiang River Estuary and the Zhujiang River Estuary, China

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Abstract

Habitat use of the tapertail anchovy (Coilia mystus Linnaeus, 1758) from the Oujiang River Estuary and the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Estuary was studied by examining the environmental signatures of Sr and Ca in otoliths using electron probe microanalysis. Individuals from the Oujiang River had higher and varied Sr:Ca ratios (expressed as (Sr:Ca)×1 000, 3.83-13.0 average) in the otolith core regions, suggesting that they were born in brackish or sea waters, and that a freshwater habitat might not be necessary for egg hatching and larval growth. While, individuals from the Zhujiang River had lower Sr:Ca ratios (0.39–2.51 average) in the core regions, suggesting a freshwater origin. After hatching, anchovies from the Zhujiang River migrate downstream to the river estuary close to brackish water. Our results demonstrated varied habitat use for spawning during stages of early life history between the two populations, and suggested that such variations are promoting diversity of life history strategies of this species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Xueliang Chai for his support on fish sampling in the Oujiang River Estuary. We also thank Momodou S Jallow and Horace Mensah for critically reading and providing comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Fishery Ecological Environment Assessment and Research Conservation in Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi, 214081, China

    Tao Jiang, Hongbo Liu & Jian Yang

  2. South China Sea Fishery Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, China

    Honghui Huang

Authors
  1. Tao Jiang
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  2. Hongbo Liu
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  3. Honghui Huang
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  4. Jian Yang
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Correspondence to Jian Yang.

Additional information

Foundation item: The China Central Governmental Research Institutional Basic Special Research Project from Public Welfare Fund under contract No. 2016PT01; the Open Project for Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Research Exploitation & Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture under contract No. FREU2015-07; the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Based Research Fund, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, CAFS under contract No. 2017JBFR02; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 31602159; the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China under contract No. BK20160204.

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Jiang, T., Liu, H., Huang, H. et al. Migration patterns and habitat use of the tapertail anchovy Coilia mystus in the Oujiang River Estuary and the Zhujiang River Estuary, China. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 38, 35–40 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-019-1436-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-019-1436-0

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