Anguilla marmorata larval migration plasticity as revealed by otolith microstructural analysis

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Reveillac, Elodie, Feunteun, Eric, Berrebi, Patrick, Gagnaire, Pierre-Alexandre, Lecomte-Finiger, Raymonde, Bosc, Pierre, Robinet, Tony
• Other Authors: LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biologie des organismes marins et écosystèmes (BOME), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biologie et écologie tropicale et méditerranéenne 2007-2010 (BETM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Association La Réunionnaise pour le Développement de l'Aquaculture (ARDA), Université de La Réunion (UR)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: EARLY-LIFE HISTORY; TROPICAL EELS ANGUILLA; HARENGUS L. LARVAE; FRESH-WATER; GROWTH INCREMENTS; DELAYED METAMORPHOSIS; INSHORE MIGRATION; WESTERN PACIFIC; INDIAN-OCEAN; EUROPEAN EEL; envir; geo; Indian; Pacific; European eel
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1139/F08-122; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00367277

International audience The oceanic early-life history of Anguilla marmorata was examined in the southwestern Indian Ocean in Mayotte, Mauritius, and Reunion islands through otolith microstructural analysis. The study of the hatching dates, the first feeding check diameter (FFD), the leptocephalus (LD) and metamorphosis (MD) durations, the age at recruitment (AR), and the leptocephalus otolith growth rate (OGR) of glass eels revealed great variations in early-life traits and relationships between them. An agglomerative nesting analysis discriminated three early-life histories, differently represented according to the locality: (i) fast migrants with short LD, short MD, young AR, large FFD, and high OGR dominated in Reunion and Mayotte; (ii) midspeed migrants with intermediate LD, MD, AR, FFD, and OGR dominated in Mauritius; (iii) slow migrants with long LD, long MD, old AR, small FFD, and low OGR were recorded only in Mauritius. All possible strategies were not observed and therefore not successful at the sampling time. However, several were simultaneously expressed, which suggests larval migration plasticity at the population level. This evidence is crucial information regarding both the species dispersal capabilities and the evolution from short-migratory tropical species towards long-migratory temperate ones in the genus Anguilla.