Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-3-2020
Publication Title
Frontiers in Marine Science
Keywords
Stomiidae, Reproduction, Mesopelagic, Sex ratio, Gonad histology, Maturity, Size distributions
ISSN
2296-7745
Volume
7
Issue/No.
101
First Page
1
Last Page
17
Abstract
The most abundant fishes on Earth live in the meso- and bathypelagic (deep-pelagic, collectively) zones of the open ocean, where they play a key role in deep-sea food webs by mediating energy flow from surface waters to great depth. Of these fishes, the most speciose taxon is the family Stomiidae (dragonfishes). Despite being the numerically dominant predators of the global mesopelagic zone, stomiid reproductive ecology is poorly known. Research surveys rarely catch larger adults, impeding reproductive ecology studies. Between 2010 and 2011, the Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis Program sampled the Gulf of Mexico using a research-sized, opening/closing trawl (10-m2 MOCNESS) and a commercial-sized, high-speed rope trawl (HSRT). Size-distribution analysis by gear type revealed: the HSRT caught more specimens per species, and the HSRT caught significantly larger specimens, whereas the MOCNESS sampled more juveniles. Gonads were dissected from 714 individuals representing 47 species, and the 12 dominant species were analyzed in further detail. Gonadal histology assessment indicated that stomiids are gonochoristic and exhibit asynchronous oocyte development and batch spawning. A total of 11 of the 12 species had sex ratios that did not significantly differ from a 1:1 (male:female) ratio (P < 0.05). Histological analysis indicated that females mature at larger sizes than males. Given the lack of age and growth data for this family, these data are critical for estimating stomiid production rates, a key element for quantifying the role of stomiids in the transfer of organic matter within the deep-pelagic zone, the planet's largest cumulative ecosystem.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
NSUWorks Citation
Alex Marks, David Kerstetter, David Wyanski, and Tracey Sutton. 2020. Reproductive Ecology of Dragonfishes (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae) in the Gulf of Mexico .Frontiers in Marine Science , (101) : 1 -17. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1089.
ORCID ID
0000-0002-4440-8767, 0000-0002-5280-7071
ResearcherID
I-5396-2012
DOI
10.3389/fmars.2020.00101
Comments
©2020 Marks, Kerstetter, Wyanski and Sutton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.