New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the largest teleost fish in the world. Despite being found in all oceans of the world, little is known about its abundance and factors driving its distribution. In this study we provide the first abundance estimates for sunfish in offshore waters in the northeast Atl...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/521163 2024-01-28T10:08:00+01:00 New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic Breen, Patricia Cañadas, Ana Ó Cadhla, Oliver Mackey, Mick Scheidat, Meike Geelhoed, Steve C.V. Rogan, Emer Jessopp, Mark 2017 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/new-insights-into-ocean-sunfish-mola-mola-abundance-and-seasonal- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/416126 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/new-insights-into-ocean-sunfish-mola-mola-abundance-and-seasonal- doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research Scientific Reports 7 (2017) ISSN: 2045-2322 Life Science info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2017 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 2024-01-03T23:15:41Z The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the largest teleost fish in the world. Despite being found in all oceans of the world, little is known about its abundance and factors driving its distribution. In this study we provide the first abundance estimates for sunfish in offshore waters in the northeast Atlantic and the first record of extensive sunfish presence in these waters year-round. Abundance estimates and predictive distributions for sunfish in approximately 300,000 km² of the northeast Atlantic were derived from large scale offshore aerial surveys in 2015–2016 using distance sampling techniques. Generalized additive models of sunfish density were fitted to survey data from 17,360 km of line transect effort resulting in minimum abundance estimates of 12,702 (CI: 9,864-16,357) in the summer (Density = 0.043 ind/km²) and 8,223 individuals (CI: 6,178-10,946) (Density = 0.028 ind/km²) in the winter. Density surface models predicted seasonal shifts in distribution and highlighted the importance of the mixed layer depth, possibly related to thermoregulation following deep foraging dives. The abundance estimate and estimated daily consumption of 2,600 tonnes of jellyfish in the northeast Atlantic highlights the need to re-assess the importance of this species in the pelagic ecosystem, and its role in top-down control of jellyfish blooms. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Scientific Reports 7 1 |
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Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
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ftunivwagenin |
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English |
topic |
Life Science |
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Life Science Breen, Patricia Cañadas, Ana Ó Cadhla, Oliver Mackey, Mick Scheidat, Meike Geelhoed, Steve C.V. Rogan, Emer Jessopp, Mark New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Life Science |
description |
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the largest teleost fish in the world. Despite being found in all oceans of the world, little is known about its abundance and factors driving its distribution. In this study we provide the first abundance estimates for sunfish in offshore waters in the northeast Atlantic and the first record of extensive sunfish presence in these waters year-round. Abundance estimates and predictive distributions for sunfish in approximately 300,000 km² of the northeast Atlantic were derived from large scale offshore aerial surveys in 2015–2016 using distance sampling techniques. Generalized additive models of sunfish density were fitted to survey data from 17,360 km of line transect effort resulting in minimum abundance estimates of 12,702 (CI: 9,864-16,357) in the summer (Density = 0.043 ind/km²) and 8,223 individuals (CI: 6,178-10,946) (Density = 0.028 ind/km²) in the winter. Density surface models predicted seasonal shifts in distribution and highlighted the importance of the mixed layer depth, possibly related to thermoregulation following deep foraging dives. The abundance estimate and estimated daily consumption of 2,600 tonnes of jellyfish in the northeast Atlantic highlights the need to re-assess the importance of this species in the pelagic ecosystem, and its role in top-down control of jellyfish blooms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Breen, Patricia Cañadas, Ana Ó Cadhla, Oliver Mackey, Mick Scheidat, Meike Geelhoed, Steve C.V. Rogan, Emer Jessopp, Mark |
author_facet |
Breen, Patricia Cañadas, Ana Ó Cadhla, Oliver Mackey, Mick Scheidat, Meike Geelhoed, Steve C.V. Rogan, Emer Jessopp, Mark |
author_sort |
Breen, Patricia |
title |
New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
title_short |
New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
title_full |
New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
New insights into ocean sunfish (Mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast Atlantic |
title_sort |
new insights into ocean sunfish (mola mola) abundance and seasonal distribution in the northeast atlantic |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/new-insights-into-ocean-sunfish-mola-mola-abundance-and-seasonal- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
Scientific Reports 7 (2017) ISSN: 2045-2322 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/416126 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/new-insights-into-ocean-sunfish-mola-mola-abundance-and-seasonal- doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02103-6 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1789336312257445888 |