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Effect of water current on the body size and occurrence of deformities in reared Japanese eel leptocephali and glass eels

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  • Aquaculture
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Abstract

Research efforts to achieve the production of artificial seedlings of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica have progressed in recent decades. However, morphological deformities have been frequently observed in reared leptocephali and glass eels. We examined the effect of water current velocities (5.7–8.3 cm/s) on the body size and morphology of reared leptocephali and metamorphosed glass eels. As the current velocity increased, the size of leptocephali became smaller and the occurrence rate of notochord curvature increased. However, even in low velocities, water current had a long-term negative impact on their morphology. Sixty-five percent of metamorphosed glass eels had one of the eight types of vertebral deformities: compression, luxation, fusion, brachyspina, modification, lordosis, kyphosis, or scoliosis. Although their occurrence rate was unrelated to current velocity, there was a tendency for some deformities to be localised in a certain area of the vertebral column. In particular, compression frequently occurred in caudal vertebrae in faster currents. Most vertebral deformities began before the completion of metamorphosis. Therefore, appropriate management of the water current during the leptocephalus stage is important for establishing mass production of morphologically normal glass eels.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Yoshiaki Yamada, Noriyuki Horie, and Naomi Mikawa of the IRAGO Institute for their kind support during the experiment. We also thank Drs. Toyoji Kaneko and Takashi Yamakawa for valuable suggestions on the radiographic observations, Dr. Shun Watanabe for facilitating this study and Dr. Michael J. Miller for helping to improve the manuscript. This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-aid (No. 25450270, 26252030) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Mari Kuroki

  2. IRAGO Institute Co., Ltd., Tahara, Aichi, 441-3605, Japan

    Akihiro Okamura & Katsumi Tsukamoto

  3. College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-0880, Japan

    Aya Takeuchi & Katsumi Tsukamoto

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  1. Mari Kuroki
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  2. Akihiro Okamura
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  4. Katsumi Tsukamoto
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Correspondence to Mari Kuroki.

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Kuroki, M., Okamura, A., Takeuchi, A. et al. Effect of water current on the body size and occurrence of deformities in reared Japanese eel leptocephali and glass eels. Fish Sci 82, 941–951 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-016-1015-7

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