Looking at the complex relationships between migration behavior and conditional strategy based on energy metabolism in the European glass eel (Anguilla anguilla)

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: Liu, Hengtong, Labonne, Jacques, Coste-Heinrich, Pascale, Huchet, Emmanuel, Plagnes-Juan, Elisabeth, Rives, Jacques, Veron, Vincent, Seiliez, Iban, Bolliet, Valérie
• Other Authors: Ecologie Comportementale et Biologie des Populations de Poissons (ECOBIOP), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA), Nutrition, Métabolisme, Aquaculture (NuMéA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: anguilla anguilla; glass eel; migration behavior; energetic status; metabolism; anguillidae; autophagy; autophagie; comportement migratoire; métabolisme énergétique; migration; [SDV.BA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02299643; https://hal.science/hal-02299643/document; https://hal.science/hal-02299643/file/S0048969719340161.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134039

International audience Diadromy in eel is facultative and the diverse propensities in glass eel estuarine migration may lead to a large spatial dispersion, which may has profound influences on the species sex determination. In this study, we sought to clarify the relationship between European glass eel energetics and their pattern of migration behavior, in the framework of the conditional strategy. Marine glass eels were sampled in autumn and spring, stratifying high and low energetic status, respectively. Their migration behavior was determined in experimental installations that mimic tides using a change in water current direction every 6.2 h. When synchronized to the current reversal, glass eels were called active while individuals hiding in the substratum were considered as non-active. Then, for each active fish, a level of swimming activity was determined and both migration behavior and level of swimming activity were correlated to the individual wet weight (used as a proxy of energy stores), standard metabolic rate (relative SMR) and transcriptomic profile of metabolism related genes. Results showed that spring glass eels presented a lower probability to migrate, a lower wet weight and a higher expression of genes involved in energy stress resistance than autumn ones, supporting a conditional strategy based on individual's energy status. However, within each season, no wet weight difference was observed between active and non-active fish. In autumn glass eels, migration behavior was weakly related to relative SMR while in spring, none of the parameters analyzed allows discriminating active and non-active glass eels. The level of swimming activity in active fish was related to their relative SMR in autumn and to their wet weight in spring. Altogether, our results could not validate a conditional strategy but spring glass eels displayed some signs of energy distress and a lower level of swimming activity than autumn ones