Nursery origin of yellowfin tuna in the western Atlantic Ocean: significance of Caribbean Sea and trans-Atlantic migrants.

ABSTRACT: Natural geochemical markers in the otolith of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) were used to establish nursery-specific signatures for investigating the origin of fish captured in the western Atlantic Ocean (WAO). Two classes of chemical markers (trace elements, stable isotopes) were used to first establish nursery-specific signatures of age-0 yellowfin tuna from four primary production zones in the Atlantic Ocean: Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Cape Verde, and Gulf of Guinea. Next, mixture and individual assignment methods were applied to predict the origin of sub-adult and adult yellowfin tuna from two regions in the WAO (Gulf of Mexico, Mid Atlantic Bight) by relating otolith core signatures (corresponding to age-0 period) to baseline signatures of age-0 fish from each nursery. Signifi

SUBMITTER: Rooker JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10539535 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature