Short-term survival, space use and diel patterns of coastal fish species revealed from ‘solo datasets’

ABSTRACT

Individual acoustic tracking is a valuable tool to understand the behavioral ecology of aquatic species and to inform conservation actions. In this study, we examined the spatial behavior of single individuals of four common coastal fish species (striped red mullet, Mullus surmuletus;corkwing wrasse, Symphodus melops;pollack Pollachius pollachius;and white seabream, Diplodus sargus) in the National Park “Illas Atlánticas de Galicia” (NW Spain). The use of space of these species varied between 237,975 m2 and 48,725 m2, and the number of days that each fish was detected in the study area ranged between 35 and 110 days with weighted residence index ranged between 0.02 and 0.43. Pollackleft the array after 235 days, and was recaptured 342 days after tagging ~10 km south from the study area. The movement of the studied species followed contrasting diel patterns. While white seabream and striped red mullet moved over larger areas during the day, pollackranged over larger areas during the night. This single individual study (‘Solo datasets’) represents a useful baseline for future research projects by providing preliminary knowledge of these poorly known species in the study area.

KEYWORDS:

• Coastal fish species
• Galicia
• diel patterns
• spatial behaviour
• acoustic telemetry

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the staff of PNMTIAG for project support, to Islas Cíes diving center and Manuel E. Garci for diving support, and Cristina García for support during tagging procedure. Gerardo Fernández Carrera ([email protected]) kindly provided the drawings of fish, except the Corkwing wrasse drawing that was obtained from FAO. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 793627. This project was supported by the project TAC (project ID 194834) funded by the programme Pleamar 2018 (BDC code CF18-01; Fundación Biodiversidad, co-financed by FEMP funds with the collaboration of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico).

Authors’ contributions

GM, DVR and AAF conceived and designed the study; GM, KL, DVR and AAF acquired the data; KL, FES and AAF analysed the data; all authors interpreted the results and revised the draft version prepared by GM. All authors approved the submitted version.

Data availability statement

The datasets analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request. It will also be available in the European Tracking Network repository (https://lifewatch.be/etn/).

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval

The present study followed animal welfare national regulations (Real decreto 53/2013 published in B.O.E. nº 34, on 8 February 2013) with the correspondent authorization of experimental animal project (Permit N°: ES360570202001/19/FUN01/BIOL AN.08/AAF01).

Geolocation information

Cíes Islands, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the project TAC (project ID 194834) funded by the programme Pleamar 2018 (BDC code CF18-01; Fundación Biodiversidad, co-financed by FEMP funds with the collaboration of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico) and by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 793627 (BEMAR). K. Leeb was supported by a ‘Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios Intro ICU’ fellowship from the CSIC, at the IIM-CSIC, and the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme.