scholarly journals Pilot study to investigate the effect of long-term exposure to high pCO2 on adult cod (Gadus morhua) otolith morphology and calcium carbonate deposition

Author(s):  
Clara Coll-Lladó ◽  
Felix Mittermayer ◽  
Paul Brian Webb ◽  
Nicola Allison ◽  
Catriona Clemmesen ◽  
...  

AbstractTo date the study of ocean acidification on fish otolith formation has been mainly focused on larval and juvenile stages. In the present pilot study, wild-captured adult Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were exposed to two different levels of pCO2, 422µatm (ambient, low pCO2) or 1091µatm (high pCO2), for a period of 30 weeks (from mid-October to early April 2014–2015) in order to study the effects on otolith size, shape and CaCO3 crystallization amongst other biological parameters. We found that otoliths from cod exposed to high pCO2 were slightly smaller (− 3.4% in length; − 3.3% in perimeter), rounder (− 2.9% circularity and + 4% roundness) but heavier (+ 5%) than the low pCO2 group. Interestingly, there were different effects in males and females; for instance, male cods exposed to high pCO2 exhibited significant changes in circularity (− 3%) and roundness (+ 4%) compared to the low pCO2 males, but without significant changes on otolith dimensions, while females exposed to high pCO2 had smaller otoliths as shown for length (− 5.6%), width (− 2%), perimeter (− 3.5%) and area (− 4.8%). Furthermore, while the majority of the otoliths analysed showed normal aragonite deposition, 10% of fish exposed to 1091µatm of pCO2 had an abnormal accretion of calcite, suggesting a shift on calcium carbonate polymorph crystallization in some individuals under high pCO2 conditions. Our preliminary results indicate that high levels of pCO2 in adult Atlantic cod might affect otolith growth in a gender-specific way. Our findings reveal that otoliths from adult cod are affected by ocean acidification, and we believe that the present study will prompt further research into this currently under-explored area.

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1890-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cabilio ◽  
David L. DeWolfe ◽  
Graham R. Daborn

Selected long-term fisheries catch data from the New England – Fundy area and the Grand Banks were examined for concordance between changes in fish catches and the 18.6-yr nodal cycle of the tides using a nonlinear regression model. Significant positive correlations were found for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), and scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), with lag times that are biologically appropriate for the time from hatching to recruitment into the fishery. A significant negative correlation with the nodal cycle was evident for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), for which this area constitutes the most northerly part of its range. Cod catches on the Grand Banks showed no correlation with the nodal cycle. It is suggested that the correlations between the nodal cycle and the changes in fish catches are caused by correlated changes either in sea surface temperature or in productivity resulting from changes in the degree of vertical mixing.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1104-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
C H Ainsworth ◽  
U R Sumaila

Where the conventional model of discounting advocates aggressive harvest policies, intergenerational discounting could have been used to render the historic gross overfishing of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) economically unappealing compared with a more conservative long-term strategy. Under these discounting approaches, we compare the historic harvest trend from 1985 (and projected postcollapse earnings) with theoretical optimal harvest profiles determined by an ecosystem model. The optimal scenarios generate less initial harvest than the historic profile but maintain the resource and provide greater yields over the long term. At a discount rate equal to market interest, we demonstrate that it was more economic under conventional valuation to harvest the cod stock to collapse than it would have been to sustain the population. However, under intergenerational valuation, the sustainable optimal scenarios outperform the actual harvest profile. Application of conventional discounting by fishing consortiums may be partly to blame for depletion, yet management fell short of even that ideal.


Aquaculture ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 322-323 ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Børge Damsgård ◽  
Frode Bjørklund ◽  
Helge K. Johnsen ◽  
Hilde Toften

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2038-2043 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Khan ◽  
J. Kiceniuk

To assess the long-term effect on the tissues of marine fish, Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L., were exposed to water-soluble fractions of Venezuelan and Hibernia crude oils at concentrations of 50–300 ppb for 12–13 weeks in a flow-through seawater system. Histopathological changes in oil-exposed fish included increased numbers of mucus-producing epithelial cells, capillary dilation, lamellar hyperplasia, and fusion of adjacent filaments in gills, microvesicular formation in hepatocytes, delayed spermatogenesis with intratubular multinucleated giant cells, and an increase of melanomacrophage centers in the spleen and kidney. Lesions were more prevalent and severe in fish exposed to Hibernia crude than to Venezuelan crude at a similar concentration.


Polar Biology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1137-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Lore Kunz ◽  
Stephan Frickenhaus ◽  
Silvia Hardenberg ◽  
Torild Johansen ◽  
Elettra Leo ◽  
...  

FACETS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 660-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Baulier ◽  
M. Joanne Morgan ◽  
George R. Lilly ◽  
Ulf Dieckmann ◽  
Mikko Heino

Life history theory predicts selection for higher reproductive investment in response to increased mortality among mature individuals. We tested this prediction over the period from 1978 to 2013 for three populations of Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland. These populations were heavily fished for a long period. We considered changes in standardized gonad weight as a proxy for changes in gonadal investment. We accounted for the allometry between gonad and body weight, individual body condition, water temperature, and potential spatial and density-dependent effects. Males display significant temporal trends in gonadal investment in all populations; in agreement with theoretical predictions, these trends show increased gonadal investments during the earlier part of the time series when mortality was high, with the trends leveling off or reversing after the later imposition of fishing moratoria. In contrast, females display patterns that are less consistent and expected; significant trends are detected only when accounting for density-dependent effects, with females in two populations unexpectedly showing a long-term decline in gonadal investment. Our results support the hypothesis that fisheries-induced evolution has occurred in gonadal investment in males, but not in females, and suggest that gonadal investment is more important for male reproductive success than expected in this lekking species.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1581-1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Haynert ◽  
J. Schönfeld ◽  
R. Schiebel ◽  
B. Wilson ◽  
J. Thomsen

Abstract. Calcifying foraminifera are expected to be endangered by ocean acidification; however, the response of a complete community kept in natural sediment and over multiple generations under controlled laboratory conditions has not been constrained to date. During 6 months of incubation, foraminiferal assemblages were kept and treated in natural sediment with pCO2-enriched seawater of 430, 907, 1865 and 3247 μatm pCO2. The fauna was dominated by Ammonia aomoriensis and Elphidium species, whereas agglutinated species were rare. After 6 months of incubation, pore water alkalinity was much higher in comparison to the overlying seawater. Consequently, the saturation state of Ωcalc was much higher in the sediment than in the water column in nearly all pCO2 treatments and remained close to saturation. As a result, the life cycle (population density, growth and reproduction) of living assemblages varied markedly during the experimental period, but was largely unaffected by the pCO2 treatments applied. According to the size–frequency distribution, we conclude that foraminifera start reproduction at a diameter of 250 μm. Mortality of living Ammonia aomoriensis was unaffected, whereas size of large and dead tests decreased with elevated pCO2 from 285 μm (pCO2 from 430 to 1865 μatm) to 258 μm (pCO2 3247 μatm). The total organic content of living Ammonia aomoriensis has been determined to be 4.3% of CaCO3 weight. Living individuals had a calcium carbonate production rate of 0.47 g m−2 a−1, whereas dead empty tests accumulated a rate of 0.27 g m−2 a−1. Although Ωcalc was close to 1, approximately 30% of the empty tests of Ammonia aomoriensis showed dissolution features at high pCO2 of 3247 μatm during the last 2 months of incubation. In contrast, tests of the subdominant species, Elphidium incertum, stayed intact. Our results emphasize that the sensitivity to ocean acidification of the endobenthic foraminifera Ammonia aomoriensis in their natural sediment habitat is much lower compared to the experimental response of specimens isolated from the sediment.


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