Geographic Variation in <i>Opisthonema oglinum</i> (Lesueur, 1818) in the Southeastern Brazilian Bight Inferred from Otolith Shape and Chemical Signatures
André Martins Vaz-dos-Santos,
Kathleen Angélica Rautenberg,
Cristiane Gallego Augusto,
Eduardo Luis Cupertino Ballester,
Paulo Ricardo Schwingel,
Edgar Pinto,
Agostinho Almeida,
Alberto Teodorico Correia
Affiliations
André Martins Vaz-dos-Santos
Laboratório de Esclerocronologia (LABESC), Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Setor Palotina, Rua Pioneiro, 2153, Palotina CEP 85950-000, PR, Brazil
Kathleen Angélica Rautenberg
Laboratório de Esclerocronologia (LABESC), Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Setor Palotina, Rua Pioneiro, 2153, Palotina CEP 85950-000, PR, Brazil
Cristiane Gallego Augusto
Instituto Federal de São Paulo (IFSP), Rua Pedro Vicente, 625, São Paulo CEP 01109-010, SP, Brazil
Eduardo Luis Cupertino Ballester
Laboratório de Carcinicultura (LABCAR), Departamento de Ciência Animal, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Setor Palotina, Rua Pioneiro, 2153, Palotina CEP 85950-000, PR, Brazil
Paulo Ricardo Schwingel
Laboratório de Ecossistemas Aquáticos e Pesqueiros (LEAP), Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí CEP 88302-901, SC, Brazil
Edgar Pinto
Departamento de Saúde Ambiental, Escola Superior de Saúde, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 400, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Agostinho Almeida
LAQV/REQUIMTE, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
Alberto Teodorico Correia
Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR/CIMAR), Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, Avenida General Norton de Matos S/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
The thread herring Opisthonema oglinum (Lesueur, 1818) is a small pelagic fish distributed in the western margin of the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to Argentina. It is a target species for diverse commercial fisheries, including the Brazilian industrial purse seine fleets that operate in the Southeastern Brazilian Bight. To investigate the geographic variation in the thread herring populations in this fishing ground, sagittal otoliths were collected from two areas: Rio de Janeiro (RJ: 23°04′ S, 44°03′ W) and Santa Catarina (SC: 26°05′ S, 48°18′ W). Otolith shape analyses and multi-elemental signatures were statistically evaluated using elliptical Fourier descriptors and elemental/Ca ratios. Remarkable differences in the thread herring otoliths between the two areas were found. The previous scenario in which the thread herring constitutes a single panmictic population in the Atlantic Ocean is now debatable. The implications of these results in terms of rational fisheries management for this species are highlighted.
