Evidence for migration of metamorphosing larvae of Anguilla japonica in the Kuroshio

• Main Authors: Otake, Tsuguo, Miller, Michael J, Inagaki, Tadashi, Minagawa, Gen, Shinoda, Akira, Kimura, Yoburo, Sasai, Seiji, Oya, Machiko, Tasumi, Satoshi, Suzuki, Yuzuru, Uchida, Makoto, Tsukamoto, Katsumi
• Format: Publication
• Language: English
• Published: 東京大学海洋研究所国際沿岸海洋研究センター 25.06.2006; International Coastal Research Center, Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo
• Subjects: Anguilla japonica; glass eel; Kuroshio; larval migration; leptocephalus; metamorphosis

Two sampling surveys of the R/V Tansei Maru were conducted in the Kuroshio region south of Kyushu Island of Japan and to the south in the western North Pacific, to study the distribution patterns of the larval stages of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica as they approach their recruitment areas in East Asia. Nine fully-grown premetamorphic leptocephali (49.5-58.3mm TL) were collected during November 1996 to the east of Taiwan. During November and December 2000, nine early stage glass eels (51.3-57.0mm TL, pigmentation stage II-IV) that were still in the late metamorphosis stages were collected in the Kuroshio. These findings suggest that metamorphosing Japanese eel leptocephali that recruit to the northern part of their species range migrate in the Kuroshio. They may detrain from the Kuroshio at the pigmentation stage IV-VA and begin their coastal migration.