Morphological and quality variation of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes (Gmelin, 1970)
-
1
Laboratory of Marine Sciences, School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Portugal
-
2
Departamento de Biologia, Escola de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Portugal
The stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes can be considered the most important ecological resource on rocky shores of North Spain and Continental Portugal [1], [2] , and has a high commercial value [3]. P. pollicipes inhabits very exposed rocky shores from Brittany (France) to Dakar (Senegal)[4]. There is an overall perception, namely by the fishers, that there is variability of the quality of P. pollicipes, namely by the existence of thinner and longer barnacles that have a lower quality. Quality variability is important as low quality barnacles have a lower commercial value.
The main objective of the present study was to address the complex issue of the existence of different morphologies/qualities of P. pollicipes by evaluating the perception of the problem by the harvesters, and by analysing the morphology of the barnacles and its biochemical composition in three Portuguese regions (“Reserva Natural das Berlengas” (RNB), the coastal area between Cape Carvoeiro and Cape Raso (CENTER) and the “Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina” (PNSACV)). Finally, a manipulative experiment was performed to test the effect of putative factors causing this morphological/quality variation.
The harvester perception was evaluated by performing individual interviews to professional barnacle fishers from the three regions CENTER(n=26), RNB (n=32) and PNSACV (n=49) in 2013. Most of the harvesters of the three regions considered that there are barnacles with different qualities and have defined barnacles with a lower quality the ones that were “thin”, “long”, with “high water content” and with “few muscle”. A collection of 10 stalked barnacles with different morphologies/qualities was shown to the fishers and it was asked that they classify the barnacles according to their quality. All the barnacles from the collection had a same maximum distance between the rostrum and the carina plate (RC), but the ratio between the maximum distance between the base of subcarina and the base of the subrostrum (CB) and their maximum length (TL) was different and was used to describe the barnacle quality (lower values of CB/TL were indicative of a lower quality). More than 70% of harvesters of the three regions correctly identified the three good quality barnacles (CB/TL~ 0,43) and the three lower quality barnacles (CB/TL ~ 0,17).
In order to analyse the morphometry (CB/TL) and biochemical profile (e.g.water content, fat content, total protein) of low and good quality barnacles, P. pollicipes of both qualities were collected by members of the research team and by professional harvesters in two sites of each region (RNB, CENTER and PNSACV). Analysis of variance to CB/TL revealed no significant effect of type of collector and of site, but a significant effect (P<0.05) of quality. Good quality barnacles presented an average value of 0.35 in the CB/TL ratio, while the low quality ones had an average value of 0.23.
Regarding the biochemical analysis, the results showed that the low quality barnacles had a lower fat and total protein content.
The manipulative experiment was performed at PNSACV, where “low quality barnacles” were transplanted to “good quality barnacles” habitat and vice versa, as well, as the density of barnacles (a putative factor to affect morphology) was artificially reduced in areas with “low quality barnacles”. One year after the set-up of the experiment, the most relevant result detected was that “low quality barnacles” that were transplanted to “good quality barnacles” habitat became larger and shorter than control ones.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Programa Operacional da Pesca 2007 e 2013 (PROMAR), supported by European Fisheries Fund (31- 03-05-FEP-11). Host institution was supported by FCT through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE. AS was supported by an FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/135872/2018). AS, DJ, NP and DP were supported by PROMAR grants.
References
[1] Molares, J. and Freire, J. 2003. Development and perspectives for community-based management of the goose barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) fisheries in Galicia (NW Spain). Fish. Res., 65, 485–49.
[2] Rivera, A.; Gelcich, S.; García-Florez, L.; Alcázar, J. L.; Acuña J. L.; 2014. Co-management in Europe: Insights from the gooseneck barnacle fishery in Asturias, Spain, Mar. Policy. 50, 300–308.
[3] T. Cruz, Jacinto, D., Sousa, A.; Penteado, N.; Pereira, D.; Fernandes, J; Silva, T.; Castro, J. 2015. The state of the fishery, conservation and management of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes in Portugal. Mar. Environ. Res. 112, 73–80.
[4] Barnes, M., 1996. Pedunculate cirripedes of the genus Pollicipes. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev. 34, 303-394
Keywords:
Stalked barnacle,
Pollicipes pollicipes,
quality,
morphology,
fishery
Conference:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Fisheries, Aquaculture and Biotechnology
Citation:
Sousa
A,
Jacinto
D,
Penteado
N,
Pereira
D,
Silva
T,
Castro
JJ and
Cruz
T
(2019). Morphological and quality variation of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes (Gmelin, 1970).
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00180
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
14 May 2019;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Mx. Alina Sousa, Laboratory of Marine Sciences, School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Sines, Portugal, alinasousa@gmail.com