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Marine Ecology Progress Series

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MEPS 516:251-262 (2014)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10969

Temperature- and income resource availability-mediated variation in reproductive investment in a multiple-batch-spawning Japanese anchovy

Michio Yoneda1,*, Hajime Kitano2, Hiroshige Tanaka3, Kohei Kawamura4, Sethu Selvaraj4, Seiji Ohshimo5, Michiya Matsuyama4, Akio Shimizu

1National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Hakatajima Station, Imabari 794-2305, Japan
2Fisheries Research Institute of Karatsu, Department of Joint Research, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Karatsu 847-0132, Japan
3Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Kushiro 085-0802, Japan
4Laboratory of Marine Biology, Department of Bioresource Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
5National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Shizuoka 424-8633, Japan
6National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Fukuura, Yokohama 236-8648, Japan
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Multiple batch spawning over a season should have an advantage for maternal fitness in unpredictable environments, but the manner in which females allocate resources to reproduction is not well understood. We explored the effects of temperature and food availability on reproductive traits in Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus using several physiological analyses. Under ad libitum food availability, temperature had a significant effect on batch intervals by changing the growth rate and size of oocytes during vitellogenesis. The latter is likely to result in variations in the size and total nutritional content of eggs. Relative batch fecundity, however, was not significantly influenced by temperature regimes. Reproductive effort per spawning was significantly higher at lower temperature, caused by the production of eggs with higher nutritional content, while total reproductive effort in a given period of time increased in water at a higher temperature due to shortening of batch intervals. Short-term food manipulation also had a significant effect on reproductive output. Insufficient income resources could lead to prolonged batch intervals, but the relative batch fecundity remained constant independent of the temperature regime. Our findings suggest that female Japanese anchovy may maintain reproductive effort per spawning relative to the prevailing temperature at the expense of more spawning events in a nutritionally harsh environment. Thus, although the total reproductive effort of well-fed specimens increased in water with increasing temperature due to shortened batch intervals, this variation may be caused by a compensatory response to the level of income resources available.


KEY WORDS: Engraulis japonicus · Phenotypic plasticity · Energy allocation · Reproductive effort · Batch interval · Egg size · Egg production


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Cite this article as: Yoneda M, Kitano H, Tanaka H, Kawamura K and others (2014) Temperature- and income resource availability-mediated variation in reproductive investment in a multiple-batch-spawning Japanese anchovy. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 516:251-262. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10969

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