Response to habitat-associated cues by sand smelt larvae
The use of sensory cues to navigate and orient to habitats has been a major research question in the field of ecological research in the last decades. Fish larvae can use a set of sensory cues to detect and discriminate between potential settlement sites. Many previous studies have shown that fish are able to respond to a variety of chemical signals, such as habitat and conspecifics, and consequently locate a critical nursery habitat. However, the use of olfactory cues for habitat selection has been mostly addressed for coral-reef fishes, with a clear lack of literature regarding the use of olfactory cues in marine, temperate fish species. Here we investigated the ability of sand-smelt (Atherina presbyter) larvae to discriminate between odours from different rocky reefs, and then tested the ability to discriminate between chemical signals of conspecifics from its own site and conspecifics from another site (kin recognition). Water and schools of sand-smelt larvae were collected in three different rocky reefs: Portinho da Arrábida (ARR), Avencas (AV), and Albufeira (ALB). Only larvae from ARR were subjected to olfactory choice tests; larvae from AV and ALB were used as conspecifics odour source.
Our results suggest that even nearby reefs smell different and that fish larvae can tell the difference. Fish also exhibited a strong preference for conspecific cues from conspecifics of their natal reef when tested against odours of conspecifics of the “foreigner” reefs. Moreover, results suggest that both cues are equally relevant. This evidence comes from the fact that the combination of reef odour with conspecific odours is more attractive to sand smelt larvae than each cue in isolation, and when conspecific and reef cues are tested against each other, there is no clear preference for neither cues.
Acknowledgements
This work had the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013, and a grant to Ana M. Faria (SFRH/BPD/68673/2010). Authors would like to thank António Roleira, Henrique Folhas and Pedro Duarte-Coelho for field and laboratory assistance.
Keywords:
Fish orientation,
olfactory cues,
habitat,
Kin recognition,
temperate fish larvae
Conference:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management
Citation:
Faria
AM,
Almada
F,
Silva
G,
Martins-Cardoso
S and
Gonçalves
EJ
(2019). Response to habitat-associated cues by sand smelt larvae.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00008
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Received:
30 May 2018;
Published Online:
07 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Ana M Faria, MARE-ISPA, Lisbon, Portugal, 1149-041, Portugal, ana.m.faria.81@gmail.com