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Ecomorphological dimorphism of juvenile Trachurus japonicus in Wakasa Bay, Japan

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Abstract

Morphometric analyses of marine pelagic fishes have generally been conducted for stock identification rather than for ecomorphological understanding. Many papers on stock identification of Trachurus japonicus reported polymorphisms in the Japanese Islands waters. However, none of them has found polymorphism in fish less than 100 mm standard length (SL), despite the environmental differences experienced by juvenile cohorts. The objective of this study was to detect ecomorphological polymorphism of juvenile T. japonicus (<100 mm SL) in Wakasa Bay, Japan, where multiple juvenile cohorts appear. From analyses of size frequency distributions and otolith microstructure, five cohorts were recognized in the bay from September 2003 to August 2004. We then compared 17 morphometric characters on body, fin, and otolith morphology, and found cohort-specific and roughly dimorphic pattern (a streamlined morph and a compressed morph). The dimorphism was markedly observed in 50–70 mm SL, and was regarded as specific to the juvenile stage by comparison with the senior dimorphisms (≥100 mm SL). Referring to the literatures on functional morphology, the streamlined morph and the compressed morph were considered to be suitable to body and caudal fin (BCF) periodic propulsion and BCF transient propulsion, respectively. The juvenile dimorphism was interpreted as adaptive in its developmental environments (i.e., ecomorphological dimorphism) by relating the functional differences to the inferred ecological differences: the streamlined morph is adaptive to feed on larval Engraulis japonicus in coastal waters, whereas the compressed morph is adaptive to associate with jellyfishes in offshore waters.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Y. Suda in National Fisheries University for courteous permission to use and arrange his sophisticated drawing on T. japonicus skeleton. N.I. Won in Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo offered us various technical supports. This work was financially supported by Researches on the Fluctuation of Recruitment of fish eggs and larvae by changes of spawning grounds and transport pattern in the East China Sea (FRECS) program from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to Y. Watanabe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity Policy Division, Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, 1-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 100-8975, Japan

    Munenori Kishida

  2. National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Fisheries Research Agency, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan

    Yu Kanaji

  3. Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Conservation of Aquatic Organisms, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, Hubei, 430072, China

    Songguang Xie

  4. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8568, Japan

    Yoshiro Watanabe & Tomohiko Kawamura

  5. Maizuru Fisheries Research Station, Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Nagahama, Maizuru, Kyoto, 625-0086, Japan

    Reiji Masuda & Yoh Yamashita

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  1. Munenori Kishida
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  2. Yu Kanaji
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Correspondence to Munenori Kishida.

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Kishida, M., Kanaji, Y., Xie, S. et al. Ecomorphological dimorphism of juvenile Trachurus japonicus in Wakasa Bay, Japan. Environ Biol Fish 90, 301–315 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9743-5

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