CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 69Marine and fisheries researchIsotope Analysis in EcologyFish Biology and Ecology Studies

Bioenergetics, Trophic Ecology, and Niche Separation of Tunas

·2016·Advances in Marine Biology
DOI 10.1016/bs.amb.2016.06.002
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Tunas are highly specialized predators that have evolved numerous adaptations for a lifestyle that requires large amounts of energy consumption. Here we review our understanding of the bioenergetics and feeding dynamics of tunas on a global scale, with an emphasis on yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack, albacore, and Atlantic bluefin tunas. Food consumption balances bioenergetics expenditures for respiration, growth (including gonad production), specific dynamic action, egestion, and excretion. Tunas feed across the micronekton and some large zooplankton. Some tunas appear to time their life history to take advantage of ephemeral aggregations of crustacean, fish, and molluscan prey. Ontogenetic and spatial diet differences are substantial, and significant interdecadal changes in prey composition have been observed. Diet shifts from larger to smaller prey taxa highlight ecosystem-wide changes in prey availability and diversity and provide implications for changing bioenergetics requirements into the future. Where tunas overlap, we show evidence of niche separation between them; resources are divided largely by differences in diet percentages and size ranges of prey taxa. The lack of long-term data limits the ability to predict impacts of climate change on tuna feeding behaviour. We note the need for systematic collection of feeding data as part of routine monitoring of these species, and we highlight the advantages of using biochemical techniques for broad-scale analyses of trophic relations. We support the continued development of ecosystem models, which all too often lack the regional-specific trophic data needed to adequately investigate climate and fishing impacts.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/bs.amb.2016.06.002

Cites

369 of 369 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 74

  1. Ahlstrom, 1971, Kinds and abundance of fish larvae in the eastern tropical Pacific, based on collections made on EASTROPAC I, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 69, 3
  2. Ahlstrom, 1958, Development and distribution of Vinciguerra lucetia and related species in the eastern Pacific, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 58, 363
  3. Aloncle, 1974, Données nouvelles sur le germon Atlantique Thunnus alalunga Bonnaterre 1788 dans le Nord-Est Atlantique. l ère Partie—Rythmes alimentaires et circadiens, Rev. Trav. Inst. Pêches Marit., 37, 475
  4. Ankenbrandt, 1985, Food habits of bait-caught skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 83, 379
  5. Bard, 1991, Analyse des contenus stomacaux des albacores (Thunnus albacares) pêchés à la senne dans le Golfe de Guinée, vol. 35, 1
  6. Bard, 1999, Habitat of deep swimming tuna (Thunnus obesus, T. albacares, T. alalunga) in central south Pacific, vol. 49, 309
  7. Beardsley, 1971, Contribution to the population dynamics of Atlantic albacore with comments on potential yields, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 69, 845
  8. Borodulina, 1974, The feeding of the bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the Gulf of Guinea and its place in the trophic system of the pelagic zone, J. Ichthyol., 14, 765
  9. Borodulina, 1982, Food composition of yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares (Scombridae), J. Ichthyol., 21, 38
  10. Brill, 1979, The effect of body size on the standard metabolic rate of skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 79, 494
  11. Brill, 1987, On the standard metabolic rate of tropical tunas, including the effect of body size and acute temperature change, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 85, 25
  12. Brock, 1985, Preliminary study of the feeding habits of pelagic fish around Hawaiian fish aggregation devices: or can fish aggregation devices enhance local fisheries productivity?, Bull Mar. Sci., 37, 40
  13. Browder, 1992, History of the western Atlantic U.S. yellowfin fishery, vol. 38, 195
  14. Buckley, 1994, Feeding habits of yellowfin tuna associated with fish aggregation devices in American Samoa, Bull. Mar. Sci., 55, 445
  15. Carles, 1971, Características biológico-pesqueras del bonito (Katsuwonus pelamis) y de la albacora (Thunnus atlanticus) en la costa nororiental de Cuba, Centr. Inv. Pesq., Cuba Contribución, 32, 1
  16. Cass-Calay, 2008, A catch rate index of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) from the United States recreational fishery in the western North Atlantic Ocean, vol. 62, 240
  17. Caverivière, 1980, Recherche des larves de thonidés dans l'Atlantique tropico-oriental campagnes effectuées en 1976–77 par le N/O Capricorne, Doc. Scient. Centre Rech. Oceanogr. Abidjan, 11, 37
  18. Cramer, 1992, Standardized catch rates of yellowfin tuna in the (U.S.) sport fisheries from Virginia to New York, vol. 38, 230
  19. de Buen, 1958, Peces del suborden Scombroidei en aguas de Chile, Rev. Biol. Mar., 7, 1
  20. De Sylva, 1956, The food of tunas, vol. 2, 37
  21. Dragovich, 1970, The food of skipjack and yellowfin tunas in the Atlantic Ocean, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 68, 445
  22. Dragovich, 1972, Comparative study of food of skipjack and yellowfin tunas off the coast of West Africa, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 70, 1087
  23. Elliott, 1979, Energetics of freshwater teliosts, vol. 44, 29
  24. Fedoseev, 1980, Relationship between feeding intensity of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) of the Gulf of Guinea and their catches in the day time, vol. 9, 287
  25. Gaikov, 1984, Feeding intensity of bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus (Lowe) in the Atlantic ocean, vol. 20, 175
  26. Gooding, 1981, Respiration rates and low oxygen tolerance limits in skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 79, 31
  27. Graham, 1959, Northeastern Pacific albacore survey. Part 1. Biological observations, U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish., 310, 1
  28. Graham, 1989, O2 tension, swimming-velocity, and thermal effects on the metabolic rate of the Pacific albacore tuna Thunnus alalunga, Exp. Biol., 48, 89
  29. Grudinin, 1989, On the ecology of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), J. Ichthyol., 29, 22
  30. Guevara-Carrió, 1984, Alimentación del bonito Katsuwonus pelamis en la región suroccidental de Cuba, Revista de Investigaciones Marinas, 5, 9
  31. Hida, 1973, Food of tunas and dolphins (Pisces: Scombridae and Coryphaenidae) with emphasis on the distribution and biology of their prey Stolephorus buccaneeri (Engraulidae), Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 71, 135
  32. ICCAT, 2008, Report of the 2007 ICCAT albacore stock assessment session (Madrid, Spain—July 5 to 12, 2007), vol. 62, 697
  33. Juhl, 1955, Notes on the feeding habits of subsurface yellowfin and bigeye tunas of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, Calif. Fish Game, 41, 99
  34. Kaymaram, 2000, Population parameters and feeding habits of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in the Oman Sea, vol. 3, 283
  35. King, 1956, Comparative study of food of bigeye and yellowfin tuna in the central Pacific, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 57, 61
  36. Koga, 1960, Studies on the fluctuation in catch of the tuna-fishing fleet. On the stomach contents of tuna in the western South Pacific Ocean, especially in the Fiji area, Bull. Nagasaki Univ. Fac. Fish., 9, 10
  37. Kume, 1977, Some biological information on skipjack caught by Japanese longline fishery in the Atlantic Ocean, vol. 6, 75
  38. Laurs, 1977, Seasonal migration of north Pacific albacore, Thunnus alalunga, into North American coastal waters: distribution, relative abundance, and association with transition zone waters, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 75, 795
  39. Legand, 1961, Contenus stomacaux des albacores et yellowfins captures a la longue-ligne par l’ORSOM III, ORSTOM, 7, 1
  40. Legand, 1972, Relations trophiques et distributions verticales en milieu pélagique dans l'Océan Pacifique intertropical, Cah. ORSTOM Océanogr., X, 303
  41. Loew, 2004, Developmental changes in the visual pigments o fthe yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, Pel. Fish. Res. Prog. Univ. Hawaii Manoa, Newsletter, 9, 5
  42. Magnuson, 1971, Gill raker apparatus and food selectivity among mackerels, tunas, and dolphins, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 69, 361
  43. Majkowski, 2007, Global fishery resources of tuna and tuna-like species, vol. 483
  44. Mamhot, 2007, 2, 25
  45. Marano, 1999, Synopsis on the biology and fisheries on Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788), Biol. Mar. Mediterr., 6, 192
  46. Marchal, 1959, Analyse de quelques contenus stomacaux de Neothunnus albacora (Lowe), Bull. Inst. Fond. Afr. Noire, 21, 1123
  47. Matsumoto, 2003, Report of observer program for Japanese tuna longline fishery in the Atlantic Ocean from September 2001 to March 2002, vol. 55, 1679
  48. Musyl, 2004, Convergent evolution of vertical movement behavior in swordfish, bigeye tuna, and bigeye thresher sharks, Pel. Fish. Res. Prog. Univ. Hawaii Manoa, Newsletter, 9, 1
  49. Nakamura, 1936, The food habits of yellowfin tuna Neothunnus macropterus (Schlegel) from the Celebes Sea, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa, 26, 1
  50. Nishikawa, 1978, Distribution atlas of larval tunas, billfishes and related species-Results of larval surveys by R/V Shunyo Maru, and Shoyo Maru, 1956–1975, vol. 9, 1
  51. Ólafsdóttir, 2000, Preliminary report on experimental fisheries and biological research on bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) within the Icelandic EEZ in 1996–98, vol. 51, 827
  52. Orsi-Relini, 1995, Feeding of the swordfish, the bluefin and other pelagic nekton in the western Ligurian Sea, vol. 44, 283
  53. Ortiz de Zárate, 1987, Datos sobre la alimentación del atún blanco (Thunnus alalunga B.) juvenil capturado en el Golfo de Vizcaya, vol. 26, 243
  54. Piccinetti, 1970, Osservazioni sulla biologia dei primi stadi giovanili del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.), Boll. Pesca., 25, 223
  55. Pons, 2012, Catch, length and sex composition of albacore, Thunnus alalunga, in the southwestern Atlantic, vol. 68, 529
  56. Postel, 1955, La bonite à ventre rayé (Katsuwonus pelamis) dans la région du Cap-Vert, Bull. Inst. Fond. Afr. Noire A, 1202
  57. Potier, 2002, On-going research activities on trophic ecology of tuna in equatorial ecosystems of the Indian Ocean, vol. 5, 368
  58. Rancurel, 1976, Note sur les céphalopodes des contenus stomacaux de Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre) dans le sud-ouest Pacifique, Cah. ORSTOM Océanogr., XIV, 71
  59. Reintjes, 1953, Food of yellowfin tuna in the central Pacific, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 81, 91
  60. Ronquillo, 1953, Food habits of tunas and dolphins based upon the examination of their stomach contents, Philipp. J. Fish., 2, 71
  61. Sabatié, 2003, Preliminary analysis of some pelagic fish diet in the Eastern Central Atlantic, vol. 55, 292
  62. Satoh, 2004, Preliminary stomach contents analysis of pelagic fish collected by Shoyo-Maru 2002 research cruise in the Atlantic Ocean, vol. 56, 1096
  63. Schaefer, 2001, Assessment of skipjack tuna (Katsusonus pelamis) spawning activity in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 99, 343
  64. Sharp, 1976, An energetics model for the exploited yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, population in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 74, 36
  65. Suárez Caabro, 1961, Biología pesquera del bonito (Katsuwonus pelamis) y la albacora (Thunnus atlanticus) en Cuba, Inst. Cubano Invest. Technol. Ser. Estud. Trab. Invest., 15, 151
  66. Turner, 1992, Standardized catch rates of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, from the United States longline fishery in the Atlantic Ocean, vol. 38, 245
  67. Ueyanagi, 1969, Observations on the distribution of tuna larvae in the Indo-Pacific Ocean with emphasis on the delineation of spawning areas of albacore, Thunnus alalunga, Bull. Far Seas Fish. Res. Lab., 2, 177
  68. Valle, 1980, Contenido estomacal del atun de aleta amarilla (Thunnus albacares) en el Atlantico centro-oriental, vol. 9, 199
  69. Valle, 1980, Note sobre el contenido estomacal del atun ojo grande (Thunnus obesus) en el Atlantico oriental, vol. 9, 282
  70. Vlieg, 1983, Proximate composition of skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamisfrom New Zealand and New Caledonia Waters, N. Z. J. Sci., 26, 243
  71. Watanabe, 1960, Regional differences in food composition of the tunas and marlins from several oceanic areas, Report of Nankai Regional Fisheries Research Laboratory, 12, 75
  72. Yang, 1987, The vertical distribution of tunas and billfishes, and fishing efficiency between Korean regular and deep longlines in the Atlantic Ocean, vol. 26, 184
  73. Yoshida, 1971, The early life history of skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, in the Pacific Ocean, Fish. Bull. (U.S.), 69, 545
  74. Zavala-Camin, 1982, Distribución vertical y estacional de túnidos y otras especies pelágicas en el sudeste y sur del Brasil, obtenida por medio de contenido estomacal, vol. 17, 439

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Venue
Advances in Marine Biology
Publisher
Elsevier
Published
2016
Volume
74
Pages
199-344
ISSN
0065-2881 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/bs.amb.2016.06.002
OpenAlex
W2505913507
Semantic Scholar
ffe8db48e65463c4407881b205aa9fd964471525
Cited by
69
References
369
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
FWCI
10.35
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Advances in marine biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) (submittedVersion)
  • AZTI Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Isotope Analysis in Ecology
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
Keywords
tuna, bioenergetics, feeding ecology, niche differentiation, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, skipjack tuna, albacore tuna, Thunnus thynnus, feeding dynamics, dietary change, prey availability, ontogenetic diet shift, micronekton, zooplankton, prey aggregation, climate change impacts, ecosystem models
MeSH terms
Animals, Diet, Eating, Ecology, Energy Metabolism, Feeding Behavior, Fisheries, Models, Biological, Oceans and Seas, Reproduction, Tuna

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review