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- Title
The return of cod transplanted from a spawning ground in southern Newfoundland
- Authors
Robichaud, David; Rose, George A.
- Abstract
To investigate the navigation mechanisms used by Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to locate spawning grounds we conducted a biotelemetric study in which 23 large (74–98 cm) spawners were displaced in small groups up to 35 km from a coastal Newfoundland spawning ground at Bar Haven, Placentia Bay. Overall, approximately 60% of the transplanted fish returned to the grounds, most within a few days. The data derived from this exercise allow the development of hypotheses regarding the navigatory mechanisms used by cod during movements on a small scale spatially. The return success was negatively related to distance of the release sites from the spawning ground (p<0.05) but was higher when fish were released along a known migratory pathway, or when released upcurrent of the spawning site. There was no support for the hypotheses that cod conducted contra-natant spawning migrations or tracked water-borne chemical-olfactory signals respectively. Transplanted groups did not stay together but a group transplanted near a large cod aggregation stayed there for some time, although 50% eventually returned to Bar Haven. Finally, our data suggest that cod moved towards an omnidirectional “attractor”, such as a characteristic sound or geophysical signature, that dissipates with distance perhaps in combination with spatial memory of bathymetry or current structures and the presence of maturing conspecifics. Copyright 2002 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Subjects
CODFISH; FISH spawning; BIOTELEMETRY
- Publication
ICES Journal of Marine Science / Journal du Conseil, 2002, Vol 59, Issue 6, p1285
- ISSN
1054-3139
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1006/jmsc.2002.1313