Littoral Water in Hong Kong As a Potential Transient Habitat for Juveniles of a Temperate Deepwater Gnomefish, Scombrops Boops (Acropomatiformes: Scombropidae)
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Zoological Studies 60:33 (2021) doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-33 Open Access Littoral Water in Hong Kong as a Potential Transient Habitat for Juveniles of a Temperate Deepwater Gnomefish, Scombrops boops (Acropomatiformes: Scombropidae) Jiehong Wei1 , Jiarui Gu2 , Min Liu3 , Bai-an Lin3 , Gabriel Y. Lee1 , Tak-Cheung Wai1,2, Paul K.S. Lam1,2,4 , Meng Yan1,2,5* , and Priscilla T.Y. Leung1,2,5* 1State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] (Leung); [email protected] (Yan). Tel: 852-34429438. Fax: 852-34420524. E-mail: [email protected] (Wei); [email protected] (Gu); [email protected] (Lee); [email protected] (Wai); [email protected] (Lam) 2Research Centre for the Oceans and Human Health, City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China 3State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. E-mail: [email protected] (Liu); [email protected] (Lin) 4Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China 5Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, China Received 29 December 2020 / Accepted 6 April 2021 / Published 2 July 2021 Communicated by Felipe Ottoni A total of 40 juveniles belonging to a temperate deepwater gnomefish species, Scombrops boops, were sampled from littoral habitats (2–5 m depth) of eastern Hong Kong waters in April and May 2017 and March 2019. The presence of gnomefish juveniles in subtropical southern China is reported for the first time at a record low latitude of 22°11'–22°21'N. The specimens were identified based on the COI gene sequence. The genetic composition between Japan and Hong Kong gnomefish populations were compared by sequencing the mitochondrial Cytb gene, which showed no genetic differentiation. The juveniles ranged from 3.5–10.1 cm (n = 40) in total length, with 35 individuals caught from Sargassum beds and five from rocky reefs. Our findings highlighted that the littoral habitats in Hong Kong waters, in particular the seasonal Sargassum beds, are important for small juveniles of S. boops. Key words: Genetic homogeneity, Northwest Pacific, Nursery habitat, Sargassum beds, Subtropical. BACKGROUND Snyder, 1901) and an undescribed species Scombrops sp. (Mochizuki et al. 2017). The family Scombropidae used to belong to the Scombrops boops is generally a temperate order Perciformes (Nelson et al. 2016), but a recent benthopelagic species distributed from the coastal area restructuring moved it to a new order, Acropomatiformes of Hokkaido (Japan) to the East China Sea (China) at (Ghedotti et al. 2018). Scombrops Temminck & which the southernmost existing record was located Schlegel, 1845 is the only genus in the family, and (22°49'N, as shown in Fig. 1a) (Shao 1987; Hayashi three members have been reported in the northwestern 2002; GBIF 2020; Froese and Pauly 2020). A couple of (NW) Pacific (Oyama et al. 2019), including Scombrops studies have also reported that S. gilberti and Scombrops boops (Houttuyn, 1782), Scombrops gilberti (Jordan & sp. are closely related to S. boops genetically, and are Citation: Wei J, Gu J, Liu M, Lin B, Lee GY, Wai TC, Lam PKS, Yan M, Leung PTY. 2021. Littoral water in Hong Kong as a potential transient habitat for juveniles of a temperate deepwater gnomefish, Scombrops boops (Acropomatiformes: Scombropidae). Zool Stud 60:33. doi:10.6620/ ZS.2021.60-33. © 2021 Academia Sinica, Taiwan 1 Zoological Studies 60:33 (2021) page 2 of 11 found in the deep water off the Izu Peninsula to the of Japan during its spawning season from October to Izu Islands and around the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, March (Mochizuki 1977). The eggs hatch after three respectively (Itoi et al. 2010 2018; Oyama et al. 2019). days under controlled conditions in captivity (Yamada As a commercially important species in Japan, 1995). Juveniles of S. boops settle and grow in coastal the distribution, ecology and population genetics of S. water habitats of Japan and start migrating to the rocky boops have been extensively studied (Itoi et al. 2010). bottom of the continental shelf break (200–700 m at The species produces pelagic eggs in the coastal water depth) after reaching sexual maturation at ~38 cm (a) IT Oyashio Current NG TT SO Tsushima Current Yellow Sea Warm Current NS KC Current KS Coastal China Kuroshio Current Okinawa Trough 22°49′N N HK 2019 2017 TPC (2) 500 km New Territories 22°21’N NFW (18) Kowloon BI (1) Hong Kong Island NP (11) TC (4) 5 km (b) BFI (4) Fig. 1. (a) A map indicating winter ocean currents in Northwest Pacific and geographical location of Hong Kong and sampling sites in Noguchi et al. (2012). HK: Hong Kong; IT: Iwate; KC: Kochi; KS: Kagoshima; NG: Niigata; NS: Nagasaki; SO: Shizuoka; TT: Tottori. (b) The six sampling sites in Hong Kong waters and number of Scombrops boops specimens from each site. BFI: Beaufort Island (22°11'N, 114°15'E); BI: Bluff Island (22°19'N, 114°21'E); NFW: Nam Fung Wan (22°21'N, 114°21'E); NP: Ninepins North (22°16'N, 114°21'E); TC: Turtle Cove (22°14'N, 114°13'E); TPC: Tung Ping Chau (22°33'N, 114°25'N). Sites with Sargassum habitat indicated by yellow circle, and with rocky reef indicated by purple triangle. © 2021 Academia Sinica, Taiwan Zoological Studies 60:33 (2021) page 3 of 11 in total length (TL) (Mochizuki 1977 1997; Hayashi 25 μl, containing 20 ng DNA template, 1 unit of Ex 2002; Takai et al. 2014). Scombrops boops around the Taq DNA polymerase (Takara), 0.5 µM reverse and Japanese Archipelago may constitute a single population forward primers, 0.2 mM mixed dNTPs, 1.5 mM based on a genetic study. The two dominant northward MgCl2, and 1 × PCR buffer (pH 8.4, 200 mM Tris-HCl coastal currents, i.e., Kuroshio Current and the and 500 mM KCl). Partial sequences of cytochrome Tsushima Current, may transport the planktonic larvae c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene were amplified using from the south and facilitate the mixing of geographic Fish F1 (forward 5’-TCAACCAACCACAAAGA populations around the Japanese Archipelago (Noguchi CATTGGCAC-3’) and Fish R1 (reverse: 5’-TAGA et al. 2012). CTTCTGGGTGGCCAAAGAATCA-3’) (Ward et The occurrence of S. boops juveniles beyond al. 2005). Amplifications of cytochrome b (Cytb) Japanese waters is however largely unknown. This study sequences were performed with L14369tuna-Glu presents the first records of S. boops in Hong Kong (forward: 5’-ACCACCGTTGTTATTCAACTA-3’) and waters, which is also the new southernmost occurrence R-DloopY2 (reverse: 5’-CATTAACTTATGCAAGCGT of this species in the NW Pacific region, with only C-3’) (Noguchi et al. 2012). PCR cycling conditions for juvenile specimens. This is also the first report of Cytb and COI are as follow: 95°C for 2 min; 39 cycles juvenile S. boops occurring in the littoral habitats of the of 95°C for 30 s, 51°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 45 s; 72°C South China Sea region. The potential nursery role of for 2 min. PCR product was purified and sequenced the coastal habitats, particularly the seasonal Sargassum by Tech Dragon Ltd. (Hong Kong) with the Sanger beds, to this deepwater species was also discussed. sequencing method using an ABI PRISM® 3730xl DNA Analyzer. For each PCR product, sequencings were performed using the same corresponding forward and MATERIALS AND METHODS reverse primers used for PCR reactions. Sampling and measurement Genetic analyses A total of 40 specimens, initially morphologically Raw sequences (sequenced from both forward and identified as Scombrops species, were received during reverse primers) were assembled using Geneious v9.0.2 the dry-wet transitional season, i.e., April and May 2017 (Biomatters Ltd.). Assembled sequences were aligned and March 2019, in the eastern waters of Hong Kong with datasets from Japanese studies (COI, Oyama et based on seasonal surveys. Thirty-six specimens were al. 2019; Cytb, Noguchi et al. 2012) using the MAFFT obtained from five locations in 2017; 31 (~86%) were v7.388 (Katoh and Stanley 2013) plugin of the Geneious collected from Sargassum beds (i.e., TC, NP and NFW) program with default settings. Both ends of the aligned and five (~14%) were collected from rocky habitat sequences for each DNA region were trimmed to without any Sargassum spp. (i.e., BI and BFI) (Fig. obtain a uniform length for subsequent analyses (i.e., 1b). Four specimens were collected in 2019 from two 607 bp for COI and 1114 bp for Cytb). Haplotypes Sargassum locations (i.e., NFW and TPC) (Fig. 1b). The of Cytb were identified using DnaSP v6 (Rozas et al. fishing gear used was in-shore purse seining (4–6 mm 2017). Unique haplotypes from Hong Kong have been mesh size; top length: 15 m, bottom length: 9.8 m × net deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology depth: 2.5 m) operated by a chartered P4 fishing boat Information (NCBI) Genbank database. Fasta files of within littoral habitats. The specimens were kept at COI sequences and Cytb haplotypes are accessible -20°C in the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution in DataSet S1. Information on Cytb haplotypes was (SKLMP) for measurement and genetic analysis. summarized in DataSet S2. Measurements of fish body length (TL; standard length, HKY+G (Hasegawa et al. 1985) and K80 (Kimura SL) and body weight were taken to the nearest 0.1 cm 1980) were selected as the best fit model for COI and and 0.1 g, respectively. Cytb using jModelTest v2.1.10 (Darriba et al.