Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T08:15:47.999Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spatial distribution of Cubiceps pauciradiatus (Perciformes: Nomeidae) in the tropical Indian Ocean and its importance in the diet of large pelagic fishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2008

Michel Potier ,
Evgeny Romanov ,
Yves Cherel ,
Richard Sabatié ,
Veniamin Zamorov  and
Frédéric Ménard
Michel Potier
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), UR 109 Thetis, BP 172, 97492 Ste Clotilde Cedex, La Réunion
Evgeny Romanov
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 109 Thetis, CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale), BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
Yves Cherel
Affiliation:
CEBC (Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé), UPR 1034 du CNRS, BP 14, 79360 Villiers en Bois, France
Richard Sabatié
Affiliation:
Pôle Halieutique, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Halieutique, Agrocampus-Rennes, 65 rue de St Brieuc, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
Veniamin Zamorov
Affiliation:
I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University (ONU), 2 Dvoryanskaya St., 65000 Odessa, Ukraine
Frédéric Ménard
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 109 Thetis, CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale), BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
Get access

Abstract

The bigeye cigarfish (Cubiceps pauciradiatus) is a small pelagic nomeid of the tropical world ocean, often recovered in the stomach contents of top predators such as tunas, billfishes and marine mammals. In the Indian Ocean, a few studies have investigated the biology and the ecology of this species that is one of the most abundant fish of the intermediate trophic levels. In this paper, we investigated the spatial distribution of C. pauciradiatus in the Indian Ocean using pelagic trawl catches carried out between 20°N and 45°S, and the importance of bigeye cigarfish in the diet of 9 piscivorous fishes sampled by different fishing gears in the western part of the Indian Ocean. The highest densities were observed along the eastern coast of Africa and in the Arabian Sea (87 000 individuals per square nautical mile) during the South-West Monsoon and in the eastern part of the Seychelles archipelago (62 200 ind. square nmi) during the North-East Monsoon. Small sized bigeye cigarfish (20–80 mm SL) was a regular and abundant prey (20 to 200 ind. per stomach) for schooling predators exploited by purse seine fishery such as large yellowfin and bigeye tunas chasing prey near the sea surface. Large sized bigeye cigarfish (61–150 mm SL) occurred in small numbers (3 to 20 ind. per stomach) in the stomach contents of swordfish and of large yellowfin and bigeye tunas caught by longline sets at great depths. Large concentrations of bigeye cigarfish occurred in zones of high productivity, and that species constituted seasonally a strong link in the transfer of energy from low to high trophic levels in this part of the Indian Ocean.

Keywords

DietFeeding ecologyBigeye cigarfishAbundanceTrophic roleTunaSailfishSwordfishIndian Ocean
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 123 - 134
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abe, T., 1955, Notes on the adult of Cubiceps gracilis from the western Pacific. J. Oceanogr. Sci. 11, 75–80.
Agafonova, T.B., 1994, Systematics and Distribution of Cubiceps (Nomeidae) of the World Ocean. J. Ichthyol. 34, 116–143.
Agafonova, T.B., Poluyaktov, V.F., 1992, Age and growth rate of two species of cigarfishes, Cubiceps caeruleus and C. pauciradiatus (Nomeidae). J. Ichthyol. 32, 1–10.
Alverson, F.G., 1963, The food of yellowfin and skipjack tunas in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Comm. Bull. 7, 293–396.
Bard, F.-X., Kouamé, B., Hervé, A., 2002, Schools of large yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) concentrated by foraging on a monospecific layer of Cubiceps pauciradiatus, observed in the eastern tropical Atlantic. ICCAT Coll. Vol. Sci. Pap. 54, 33–41.
Bashmakov V.F., Zamorov V.V., Romanov E.V., 1991, Diet composition of tunas caught with long lines and purse seines in the western Indian Ocean. IPTP Coll. Vol. Work. Doc. 6 TWS/91/31, 53–59.
Beauplet, G., Dubroca, L., Guinet, C., Cherel, Y., Dabin, W., Gagne, C., Hindell, M., 2004, Foraging ecology of subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis breeding on Amsterdam Island: seasonal changes in relation to maternal characteristics and pup growth. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 273, 211–225. CrossRef
Butler, J.L., 1979, The nomeid genus Cubiceps (Pisces) with a description of a new species. Bull. Mar. Sci. 29, 226–241.
Cherel, Y., Sabatié, R., Potier, M., Marsac, F., Ménard, F., 2007, New information from fish diets on the importance of glassy flying squid (Hyaloteuthis pelagica) (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae) in the epipelagic cephalopod community of the tropical Atlantic Ocean. US Fish. Bull. 105, 147-152.
Cherel, Y., Duhamel, G., Gasco, N., 2004, Cephalopod fauna of subantarctic islands: new information from predators. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 266, 143-156. CrossRef
Dollar, M.L., Walker, W.A., Kooyman, G.L., Perrin, W.F., 2003, Comparative feeding ecology of spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) and Fraser's dolphins (Lagenodelphis hosei) in the Sulu Sea. Mar. Mamm. Sci. 19, 1–19. CrossRef
Gorelova, T.A., Agafonova, T.B., Lipskaya, N.Ya, 1994, Feeding of cigarfishes (Genus Cubiceps, Stromateoidei). J. Ichthyol. 34, 70–82.
Kornilova, G.N., 1981, Feeding of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, and bigeye tuna Thunnus obesus, in the equatorial zone of the Indian Ocean. J. Ichthyol. 20, 111–119.
Lamkin, J., 1997, The Loop Current and the abundance of larval Cubiceps pauciradiatus (Pisces: Nomeidae) in the Gulf of Mexico: evidence for physical and biological interaction. Fish. Bull. 95, 250–266.
Legand, M., Bourret, P., Fourmanoir, P., Grandperrin, R., Guérédrat, J.A., Michel, A., Rancurel, P., Repelin, R., Roger, C., 1972, Relations trophiques et distributions verticales en milieu pélagique dans l'Océan Pacifique Intertropical. Cah. ORSTOM Sér. Océanogr. 10, 304–381.
Longhurst A., 1998, Ecological geography of the sea. Academic Press, San Diego.
Ménard, F., Stéquert, B., Rubin, A., Herrera, M., Marchal, E., 2000, Food consumption of tuna in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean: FAD-associated versus unassociated schools. Aquat. Living Resour. 13, 233–240. CrossRef
Ménard, F., Marchal, E., 2003, Foraging behaviour of tuna feeding on small schooling Vinciguerria nimbaria in the surface layer of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Aquat. Living Resour. 16, 231–238. CrossRef
Ménard, F., Labrune, C., Shin, Y.J., Asine, A.S., Bard, F.-X., 2006, Opportunistic predation in tuna: a size-based approach. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 323, 239–251. CrossRef
Pauly D., 1980, A selection of simple methods for the assessment of tropical fish stocks. FAO Fish. Circ. 729.
Perrin, W.F., Warner, R.R., Fiscus, C.H., Holts, D.B., 1973, Stomach contents of porpoise, Stenella spp., and yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, in mixed-species aggregations. Fish. Bull. 71, 1077–1092.
Pinaud, D., Cherel, Y., Weimerskirch, H., 2005, Effect of environmental variability on habitat selection, diet, provisioning behaviour and chick growth in yellow-nosed albatrosses. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 298, 295–304. CrossRef
Potier M., Bristol N., Fonteneau A., 2007a, Results obtained from the biological sampling of large bigeye tuna caught on free schools by purse seiners in the Indian Ocean. Paper presented at the IOTC working party on tropical tunas, IOTC-2007-WPTT-04.
Potier, M., Ménard, F., Cherel, Y., Lorrain, A., Sabatié, R., Marsac, F., 2007b, Role of pelagic crustaceans in the diet of the longnose lancetfish Alipesaurus ferox in the Seychelles waters. Afr. J. Mar. Sci. 29, 113–122. CrossRef
Potier, M., Marsac, F., Cherel, Y., Lucas, V., Sabatier, R., Maury, O., Ménard, F., 2007c, Forage fauna in the diet of three large pelagic fishes (lancetfish, swordfish and yellowfin tuna) in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Fish. Res. 83, 60–72. CrossRef
Rivaton J., Bourret P., 1999, Les otolithes des poissons de l'Indo-Pacifique. Doc. Sci. Tech. II(2), IRD, Nouméa.
Robertson, K.M., Chivers, S.J., 1997, Prey occurrence in pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, from the eastern tropical Pacific. Fish. Bull. 95, 334–348.
Romanov E.V., Zamorov V.V., 1999, The pelagic food web of the Western Indian Ocean. In Pauly D., Christensen V., Coelho L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the EXPO'98 Conference on Ocean Food Webs and Economic Productivity. ACP-EU Fish. Res. Rep. 5, pp. 11–12.
Romanov, E.V., 2002, Bycatch in the tuna purse-seine fisheries of the western Indian Ocean. Fish. Bull. 100, 90–105.
Romanov E.V., Sakagawa G., Marsac F., Romanova N., 2006, Historical database on Soviet tuna longline tuna research in the Indian and Atlantic oceans (first results of YugNIRO-NMFS data rescue project). Paper presented at the eighth session of the IOTC working party on tropical tunas. Seychelles, IOTC-2006-WPTT-10.
Salekhov, O.P., 1990, Distribution and biological observations of small cigarfish Cubiceps pauciradiatus of the Atlantic Ocean. J. Ichthyol. 29, 56-64.
Schott, F.A., McCrear, J.P. Jr, 2001, The monsoon circulation of the Indian Ocean. Prog. Oceanogr. 51, 1–123. CrossRef
Schott, F.A., Dengler, M., Schoenefeldt, R., 2002, The shallow overturning circulation of the Indian Ocean. Prog. Oceanogr. 53, 57–103. CrossRef
Smale M.J., Watson G., Hecht T., 1995, Otolith Atlas of southern African marine fishes. Ichthyological Monographs. J/L/B/ Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Young, J., Lansdell, M., Riddoch, S., Revill, A., 2006, Feeding ecology of broadbill swordfish, Xiphias gladius, off eastern Australia in relation to physical and environmental variables. Bull. Mar. Sci. 79, 793–809.
Zar J.H., 1999, Biostatistical analysis, 4th edition. Prentice-Hall International Publications.