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Schooling behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a fish aggregating device (FAD) in the Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2012

Yasushi Mitsunaga ,
Chikayuki Endo  and
Ricardo P. Babaran
Yasushi Mitsunaga*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, 3327-204 Naka-machi, 631-8505 Nara, Japan
Chikayuki Endo
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, 3327-204 Naka-machi, 631-8505 Nara, Japan
Ricardo P. Babaran
Affiliation:
College of Fisheries and Ocean Science, University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao, 5023 Iloilo, Philippines
*
a Corresponding author: mittsu@nara.kindai.ac.jp
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Abstract

A fish aggregating device (FAD) called a payao is conventionally installed to catch pelagic species in the Philippines. The waters around the Philippines are important regions for yellowfin tuna stocks because they include spawning grounds and nurseries. To understand the schooling behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a payao, 13 juveniles (20.5−24.0 cm fork length) double tagged with ultrasonic transmitters (V7-2L-R256; Vemco Ltd.) and data loggers (DST-micro; Star-Oddi Ltd.) were released around a payao. A self-recording receiver (VR2-DEL; Vemco Ltd.) was attached on the mooring rope of the payao to follow the horizontal movements and data loggers recorded the vertical movements of tagged juveniles. Nine juveniles were recaptured simultaneously by ring net at the same payao after 4-7 days. One juvenile was recaptured by hand line at another payao 12 km away from the tagging site after 6 days. Recaptured juveniles showed a diurnal schooling pattern suggesting different school shape and foraging strategy between daytime and nighttime. Juveniles showed a diurnal horizontal moving pattern, concentrated near the payao during daytime, while they were distributed around the payao at nighttime. The fluctuations of swimming depth were synchronized among fish. Juveniles also showed a diurnal vertical movement pattern in surface mixed layer. They concentrated in a shallow and narrow range (11.2±8.2 m, mean ± SD) at nighttime, while they were distributed to a deep and wide range (20.0 ± 11.8 m) during daytime. The maximum vertical neighbor distance indicated the vertical thickness of the school and showed a peak around noon. Higher vertical movement speed during daytime indicated vertical foraging in a water column, while at nighttime the juveniles might forage horizontally following the diurnal migration patterns of prey in the surface layer.

Keywords

Telemetryjuvenilefish schoolFADpayaoswimming behaviorYellowfin tuna
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 79 - 84
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2012

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