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Toward Identification of Larval Sailfish (Istiophorus Platypterus), White

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Toward Identification of Larval Sailfish (Istiophorus Platypterus), White W&M ScholarWorks VIMS Articles Virginia Institute of Marine Science 2005 Toward Identification Of Larval Sailfish (Istiophorus Platypterus), White Marlin (Tetrapturus Albidus), And Blue Marlin (Makaira Nigricans) In The Western North Atlantic Ocean Stacy A. Luthy Robert K. Cowen Joseph E. Serafy Jan McDowell Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons Recommended Citation Luthy, Stacy A.; Cowen, Robert K.; Serafy, Joseph E.; and McDowell, Jan, "Toward Identification Of Larval Sailfish (Istiophorus Platypterus), White Marlin (Tetrapturus Albidus), And Blue Marlin (Makaira Nigricans) In The Western North Atlantic Ocean" (2005). VIMS Articles. 565. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles/565 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in VIMS Articles by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ART & EQUATIONS ARE LINKED PREFLIGHT GOOD 588 Abstract—The identification of larval Toward identification of larval sailfish istiophorid billfishes from the western North Atlantic Ocean has long been (Istiophorus platypterus), white marlin problematic. In the present study, a molecular technique was used to posi- (Tetrapturus albidus), and blue marlin tively identify 27 larval white marlin (Makaira nigricans) in the western (Tetrapturus albidus), 96 larval blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), and 591 North Atlantic Ocean* larval sailfish (Istiophorus platyp- terus) from the Straits of Florida and the Bahamas. Nine morphometric Stacy A. Luthy measurements were taken for a subset Robert K. Cowen of larvae (species known), and lower Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science jaw pigment patterns were recorded University of Miami on a grid. Canonical variates analysis 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway (CVA) was used to reveal the extent Miami, Florida 33149 to which the combination of morpho- Present address (for S. A. Luthy): Baruch Marine Field Laboratory metric, pigment pattern, and month P.O. Box 1630 of capture information was diagnos- Georgetown, South Carolina 29442 tic to species level. Linear regression Email address (for S. A. Luthy): [email protected] revealed species-specific relationships between the ratio of snout length to eye orbit diameter and standard Joseph E. Serafy length (SL). Confidence limits about National Marine Fisheries Service these relationships served as defining Southeast Fisheries Science Center characters for sailfish >10 mm SL and 75 Virginia Beach Drive for blue and white marlin >17 mm SL. Miami, Florida 33149 Pigment pattern analysis indicated that 40% of the preflexion blue marlin examined possessed a characteristic Jan R. McDowell lower jaw pigment pattern and that The Virginia Institute of Marine Science 62% of sailfish larvae were identi- School of Marine Science fiable by lower jaw pigments alone. College of William and Mary An identification key was constructed P.O. Box 1346 based on pigment patterns, month of Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 capture, and relationships between SL and the ratio of snout length to eye orbit diameter. The key yielded identifications for 69.4% of 304 (blind sample) larvae used to test it; only one of these identifications was incor- rect. Of the 93 larvae that could not be identified by the key, 71 (76.3%) Research on the early life history of ficult to identify below the family lev- were correctly identified with CVA. exploited fishes benefits management el. Full fin-ray complements are not Although identification of certain efforts by elucidating the temporal present until a larva reaches 20 mm larval specimens may always require and spatial distribution of spawning, in length, and even then, meristic molecular techniques, it is encour- cohort strength, and biological and counts are of limited use for identifi- aging that the majority (92.4%) of physical factors affecting recruitment cation because of significant overlap istiophorid larvae examined were (Lasker, 1987). The ability to confi- in counts among species. At best, spe- ultimately identifiable from external dently identify specimens to species cies possibilities can be eliminated characteristics alone. is necessary in any early life history only for specimens with counts in the study (Collette and Vecchione, 1995). extremes of their ranges (Richards, This has not yet been achieved for 1974). The only definitively diagnos- larval billfishes of the family Istio- tic count is the vertebral formula for phoridae from the Atlantic Ocean: Makaira (11 precaudal and 13 caudal) sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), versus that of the other istiophorids blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), (12 precaudal and 12 caudal) (Rich- white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus), ards, 1974). Larger blue marlin lar- and longbill spearfish (Tetrapturus Manuscript submitted 14 July 2004 pfluegeri). to the Scientific Editor’s Office. Larval istiophorids are easily dis- * Contribution SFD-2003-0010 from NOAA Fisheries Sustainable Fisheries Division, Manuscript approved for publication tinguished from larval swordfish Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 75 6 April 2005 by the Scientific Editor. (Xiphias gladius, family Xiphiidae). Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, Florida Fish. Bull. 103:588–600 (2005). However, larval istiophorids are dif- 33149. PREFLIGHT GOOD Luthy et al.: Identification of larval sailfish, white marlin, and blue marlin in the western North Atlantic Ocean 589 vae may also be identified by the presence of a complex Billfishes are not the only group whose larval iden- lateral line. Ueyanagi (1964) found this character in tification has proven difficult. Species of the genus Pacific blue marlin of 20 mm standard length (SL), but Sebastes, the rockfishes, have some morphological and the smallest SL of an Atlantic blue marlin from a recent pigmentation differences as larvae, but identification collection in which a complex lateral line was visible was difficult and uncertain until genetic methods were was 26.9 mm. At lengths <20 mm, specific identifica- employed (Rocha-Olivares et al., 2000). Fulford and tion of istiophorids is even more uncertain. Ueyanagi Rutherford (2000) solved a similar problem by combin- (1963; 1964) based the identification of Indo-Pacific ing allozyme analysis of larval tissues with landmark- istiophorids <5 mm SL on four characters: 1) anterior based morphometrics to distinguish between species of projection of the eye orbit; 2) the position of the tip of the genus Morone. In each study, a molecular technique the snout in relation to the middle of the eye; 3) pres- was used to confirm larval species identity, facilitat- ence of pigments on the branchiostegal and gular mem- ing the development of morphometric identification branes; and 4) whether the pectoral fins are rigid—a techniques. character that applies to larval black marlin (Makaira Several molecular methods for identifying adult indica), a species not known to spawn in the Atlantic billfishes have been developed (Chow, 1993; Innes et Ocean. For fish >5 mm SL, the characters of relative al., 1998; McDowell and Graves, 2002). In the present snout length and eye size are used. Ueyanagi (1964) study, larval istiophorids from Atlantic waters were described sailfish, striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax, identified to species using restriction fragment length the Pacific counterpart to white marlin), and shortbill polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of a 1.2-kb segment spearfish (Tetrapturus angustirostris) between 10 and of nuclear DNA, as described for adult billfishes by 20 mm SL as having long snouts. The short snout group McDowell and Graves (2002). In this article we pres- comprised blue marlin and black marlin. The angles at ent data for genetically identified istiophorid larvae, which the pterotic and preopercular spines protrude analyses of morphometric and qualitative characters, from the body have also been useful in identifying Indo- and a key for the identification of larval istiophorids of Pacific specimens (Ueyanagi, 1974a). the Straits of Florida and the Bahamas. A troubling aspect of current larval istiophorid iden- tification methods is the difficulty in using some of the above characters. If a specimen is fixed with its mouth Materials and methods open, snout position with respect to eye is an unread- able character (Richards, 1974), and misidentifications Larval material can occur (Ueyanagi, 1974a). Evaluation of certain char- acters (e.g., whether the eye orbit projects anteriorly) Larval istiophorids were collected between June 1998 can be highly subjective. The lack of confirming identi- and April 2002 from the Straits of Florida and Exuma fication characters compounds the problem; if just one Sound, Bahamas. Several preservation fluids were used, character cannot be assessed, identification may not but the majority of the larvae (~1000) were preserved be possible (Richards, 1974). An additional problem is in 70−95% ethanol. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) the apparently high variability in characters such as saturated ethanol was used to preserve 150 larvae. pigment locations and head spine angles in Atlantic Approximately 300 larvae were fixed in 10% unbuffered istiophorids (Richards, 1974). formalin and then transferred to 70% ethanol. In the Most of the larval specimens examined by Ueyanagi laboratory, each fish was assigned a unique identification came from the Indo-Pacific; he assumed that
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