Seamounts, new moon and eel spawning: The search for the spawning site of the Japanese eel

• Published in: Environmental biology of fishes Vol. 66; no. 3; pp. 221 - 229
• Main Authors: TSUKAMOTO, Katsumi, OTAKE, Tsuguo, HASUMOTO, Hiroshi, OYA, Machiko, SUZUKI, Yuzuru, MOCHIOKA, Noritaka, LEE, Tae-Won, FRICKE, Hans, INAGAKI, Tadashi, AOYAMA, Jun, ISHIKAWA, Satoshi, KIMURA, Shingo, MILLER, Michael J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.03.2003; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agnatha. Pisces; Anguilla japonica; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Aquatic habitats; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Fish; Freshwater; Freshwater environments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Larvae; Marine; Moon; Seamounts; Spawning; Vertebrata; West Pacific; Pacific Ocean; North Pacific; ISEW, Pacific, Mariana Ridge; ISEW, Pacific, West Mariana Ridge; Lunar cycle; Spawning; Animal migration; cycle; synchrony; Breeding site; Marine environment; Reproduction; Vertebrata; Pisces; catadromous; migration; Anguilla japonica; Seamount; Reproductive cycle; lunar
• ISSN: 0378-1909; 1573-5133
• DOI: 10.1023/a:1023926705906

After analyzing all the collection data for larvae of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, in the western North Pacific, we found that the spawning site of this species appears to be near three seamounts in the West Mariana Ridge, 2000-3000km away from their freshwater habitats. These seamounts are located in the westward flow of the North Equatorial Current and are hypothesized to provide cues for migrating silver eels and to serve as possible aggregation sites for spawning. Back-calculated birth dates based on otolith microstructure of leptocephali indicate that the Japanese eel does not spawn continuously during the long spawning season from April to November, but is synchronized to spawn periodically once a month during new moon. This lunar periodicity of spawning and the seamount spawning hypothesis are new developments in the millennium-old mystery of eel spawning that has fascinated naturalists since the time of Aristotle.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]