Bluefin tuna () larvae exploit rare food sources to break food limitations in their warm oligotrophic environment.
Patricia Reglero, Maria Pilar Tugores, Josefin Titelman, Mar Santandreu, Melissa Martin, Rosa Balbin, Diego Alvarez-Berastegui, Asvin P Torres, Nelly Calcina, Laura Leyva, Øyvind Fiksen
Author Information
Patricia Reglero: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ORCID
Maria Pilar Tugores: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ORCID
Josefin Titelman: Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway. ORCID
Mar Santandreu: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Melissa Martin: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Rosa Balbin: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ORCID
Diego Alvarez-Berastegui: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ORCID
Asvin P Torres: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ORCID
Nelly Calcina: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Laura Leyva: Instituto Español de Oceanografía-CSIC, Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Muelle de Poniente s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Øyvind Fiksen: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, 5020 Bergen, Norway. ORCID
Tuna spawns in some of the warmest and most oligotrophic areas worldwide. At the same time, starvation is often considered the main source of mortality for fish larvae. Here we assess if plankton availability is sufficient to sustain the high growth potential of tuna () larvae in a major spawning ground in the warm oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea. We combine field data with a model of larval foraging, growth, and bioenergetics and find that just enough food is available in the warm surface layer to sustain the high growth rate of the larvae. For bluefin tuna, higher temperatures can be beneficial if prey abundance is high, 10 000-27 000 nauplii m, 14-36 cladocerans m, 3-7 copepods m, but critical if not. While nauplii alone may not sustain the growth potential of even the smallest tuna larvae, our model predicts that including some larger copepods or cladocerans in the diet reduces food limitation and can sustain growth even in the warmest years. The combination of clear Mediterranean waters and the occasional copepod or cladocerans alleviates food limitation despite the low zooplankton concentrations in the area. In conclusion, oligotrophic spawning areas allow for fast growth of these foraging efficient larvae, unless temperatures exceed 28°C.
