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Population structure, habitat connectivity and movement patterns of the blue jack mackerel, Trachurus picturatus, in the NE Atlantic: combining natural tags for a rational management of fisheries resources

Cláudia Moreira1, 2, Elsa Froufe1, Paulo Vaz-Pires1, 2, Pablo Presa3, Raül Triay-Portella4 and Alberto T. Correia1, 5*
  • 1 Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 2 Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 3 Universidad de Vigo, Fac. Biología, ReXenMar Laboratory-ECIMAT, Spain
  • 4 Instituto Universitario de Estudios Ambientales y Recursos Naturales (i-UNAT), Campus de Tafira, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
  • 5 Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal

The optimal management of fisheries for the sustainability of species with high dispersive capacity, large effective population sizes and high fecundity, is extremely challenging. Fishery assessment is not always performed on full biological entities but on political and administratively delineated fisheries. The blue jack mackerel Trachurus picturatus is a pelagic species that inhabit a wide range in the Northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In Macaronesia, it is a species of great interest, being one of the most commercially important species in the region and the only representative of genus Trachurus in the Azores archipelago. Multidisciplinary synergic studies on the population structure of marine species are still scarce. In the present study, T. picturatus specimens were sampled with the artisanal local fleet at six locations of the Northeast Atlantic – Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Portugal mainland (Matosinhos, Peniche and Portimão), and one location in the Mediterranean Sea - Sicily. A multidisciplinary approach, comprising body morphometry, otolith microchemistry and genetic markers, was applied to study the population structure and migratory patterns of the species in this region. Body morphometric variation among the sampling locations was inferred following a truss box method (Strauss and Bookstein, 1982). Thirty distance variables were extracted from digital images of sampled specimens using the software tpsDig v1.40 (Rohlf 2004). The elemental (Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca, Pb/Ca, Li/Ca, Fe/Ca and Mn/Ca) and isotopic signatures (δ18O and δ13C) were quantified in the right whole sagittal otolith by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SB-ICP-MS) and isotope ratio mass spectrometry, respectively. The left sagittal otolith was used to explore the migration patterns and degree of connectivity across the sampling locations, examining the variation in otolith elemental composition in the core and edge of the otolith by ICP-MS laser ablation. Finally, the genetic diversity, differentiation and connectivity patterns of the blue jack mackerel were studied, for the first time in the NE Atlantic, employing microsatellite markers. Explaining the information issued from these different biomarkers is proven to be complex, especially because environmentally-shaped and genetic markers respond to distinct temporal scales and processes of the species life. Therefore, integrating all data is fundamental to ensure that all factors are considered when establishing management strategies for sustainability.

Acknowledgements

Work was supported by FCT (SFRH/BD/111133/2015 to CM), NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035 (MARINFO) and the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2019. Authors are grateful to H. Cabral Team (BIOCONNECT, PTDC/MAR/117084/2010) who allowed the use of microsatellite primers isolated in the project. Authors wish to thank M. Felicio (IPMA Matosinhos), A. Paixão (IMAS/DOP), J. Delgado (DRP-M/SRARN), F. Tuya (IU-ECOAQUA, ULPGC), I. Bertocci and G. Milisenda (CNR-IAMC UOS Mazara del Vallo) for fish acquisition.

References

Rohlf, F.J. (2004) tpsDig v 1.40. Departament of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Strauss, R.E., Bookstein, F.L. (1982) The Truss: body reconstructions in morphometrics. Syst. Zool. 31, 113-135.

Keywords: Trachurus picturatus, Truss networks, otolith elemental signatures, microsatellite markers, sustainable fisheries

Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019.

Presentation Type: Oral

Topic: ECOLOGY AND LIFE CYCLES

Citation: Moreira C, Froufe E, Vaz-Pires P, Presa P, Triay-Portella R and Correia AT (2019). Population structure, habitat connectivity and movement patterns of the blue jack mackerel, Trachurus picturatus, in the NE Atlantic: combining natural tags for a rational management of fisheries resources. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00005

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Received: 28 May 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019.

* Correspondence: Prof. Alberto T Correia, Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Matosinhos, Porto, 4450-208, Portugal, atcorreia.ciimar@gmail.com