Spatial variability of life-history parameters of the Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias), an expanding species in the northeast Atlantic |
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Rosario Domínguez-Petit, María Rosario Navarro, Marta Cousido-Rocha, Jorge Tornero, Fernando Ramos, Alba Jurado-Ruzafa, Cristina Nunes, Carmen Hernández, Andreia V. Silva, Jorge Landa |
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Atlantic
chub mackerel is a pelagic species present in the Atlantic Ocean that
in recent decades has expanded northwards in the eastern Atlantic. Fish
samples were collected in scientific surveys and commercial catches
between 2011 and 2019. We analysed the geographical variation of the
biological parameters (age, length, weight and condition), as well as
the length-weight relationship, maturity-at-length and spawning season
onset and duration in five geographical areas (from south to north): the
Canary Islands, Gulf of Cadiz, western Portuguese coast, northwestern
Spanish coast and Cantabrian Sea. The influence of sea surface
temperature (SST) on fish length was modelled as a potential driver of
geographical variability. All biological parameters increased
progressively northwards, while the spawning season was delayed and
prolonged with increasing latitude, from January in the Canary Islands
to May-August in the Cantabrian Sea, when SST was between 15°C and 19°C.
SST had a positive effect on length in three study areas and a negative
one in two of them, suggesting that each group is at a different
position within their thermal tolerance range. Deviance from the
geographical pattern of some biological parameters in the Gulf of Cadiz
suggests that it could be a hinge or mixing zone between Atlantic
African, Mediterranean and Atlantic Iberian population components. |
Keywords: growth; maturity; condition; reproductive phenology; climate change |
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