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Utilization patterns of estuarine and marine habitats by the halfbeak Zenarchopterus dunckeri at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, evaluated from otolith microchemistry

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Abstract

Estuarine and marine habitat use patterns in the halfbeak Zenarchopterus dunckeri were examined at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, by analyzing otolith Li/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios. The ranges of both Li/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in juvenile Z. dunckeri from the maximum (30 psu) to minimum (0.5 psu) salinity levels of brackish water estimated from rearing experiments, were compared with those of wild individuals collected from upstream and downstream stations in the Urauchi River estuary. The majority of wild-caught individuals had invariable Li/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios along an otolith transect from the core to the posterior edge, which fell within the otolith Li/Ca and Sr/Ca ranges estimated for estuarine individuals in the rearing experiments, suggesting that such individuals developed within the estuary without migrating to a marine environment at any time, although some downstream-dwelling fish had higher otolith elemental ratios than the predetermined estuarine ranges in the mid transect section. The latter fish may have been accidentally flushed from the estuary into the sea by heavy flood events, subsequently returning to the estuary. The overall results suggested that Z. dunckeri is essentially an estuarine resident, completing its life cycle within an estuarine system.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ken Sakihara, Akira Mizutani and the Okinawa Regional Research Center, Tokai University, for assistance with the fieldwork. Constructive comments on the manuscript from Kotaro Shirai, Ken Okamoto, Shigeru Aoki, Graham Hardy and two anonymous reviewers were much appreciated. This study was supported by a GCOE Asian Conservation Ecology between Kyusyu University and the University of Tokyo and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 26252027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Takahiro Kanai & Mitsuhiko Sano

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

    Kusuto Nanjo, Kodai Yamane, Yosuke Amano & Yoshiro Watanabe

  3. Okinawa Regional Research Center, Tokai University, Uehara, Taketomi, Okinawa, 907-1541, Japan

    Hiroyoshi Kohno

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  1. Takahiro Kanai
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  2. Kusuto Nanjo
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  3. Kodai Yamane
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  4. Yosuke Amano
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  5. Hiroyoshi Kohno
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  6. Yoshiro Watanabe
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  7. Mitsuhiko Sano
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Correspondence to Takahiro Kanai.

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Kanai, T., Nanjo, K., Yamane, K. et al. Utilization patterns of estuarine and marine habitats by the halfbeak Zenarchopterus dunckeri at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, evaluated from otolith microchemistry. Fish Sci 80, 1231–1239 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-014-0797-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-014-0797-8

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