Vol. 62, 2023

(update: 2023.7.13)

Migration Behavior of Anguilla celebesensis Silver Eels within their Tomini Bay Spawning Area

Ryotaro Manabe¹, Takatoshi Higuchi^2,3, Shun Watanabe^4,5,*^,§, Fadly Y. Tantu^6,*^,§, Hagi Y. Sugeha⁷, Hiroki Kaneko⁸, Michael J. Miller⁹, Seishi Hagihara¹⁰, Tatsuki Yoshinaga¹¹, Augy Syahailatua^7,12, Sam Wouthuyzen^7,12, Triyanto¹³, Kawilarang W. A. Masengi¹⁴, Katsufumi Sato¹⁵, Jun Aoyama², and Katsumi Tsukamoto⁹

¹Ainan Fisheries Division, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Promotion Department of the Nanyo Regional Bureau, Ehime Prefectural Government, 2420 Johenko, Ainan-cho Minamiuwa-gun, Ehime 798-4194, Japan. E-mail: manabe-ryoutarou@pref.ehime.lg.jp (Manabe)
²Center for International and Local Research Cooperation, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 1-19-8 Akahama, Otsuchi, Iwate 028-1102, Japan. E-mail: jaoyama@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Aoyama)
³UMR BOREA [MNHN, CNRS, SU, IRD, UCN, UA], Station Marine de Dinard, 38 rue du Port Blanc 35800 Dinard, France. E-mail: t-higuchi@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Higuchi)
⁴Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University, 3327-204 Nakamachi, Nara 631-8505, Japan. *Correspondence: E-mail: swpc@nara.kindai.ac.jp (Watanabe)
⁵Agricultural Technology and Innovation Research Institute, Kindai University, 3327-204 Nakamachi, Nara 631‑8505, Japan
⁶Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Fishery, Tadulako University, Jl. Soekarno Hatta Km 9 Palu, 94118 Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. *Correspondence: E-mail: fytantuwallacea62@gmail.com (Tantu)
⁷Research Centre for Oceanography - National Research and Innovation Agency, Jl. Pasir Putih 1, Ancol Timur, Jakarta 14430, Indonesia. E-mail: hysugeha@gmail.com (Sugeha); augy_lipi@yahoo.com (Syahailatua); swouthuyzen@yahoo.com (Wouthuyzen)
⁸Department of Marine Science and Resources, Nihon University, 1866 Kameino, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0880, Japan
⁹Department of Aquatic Bioscience, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. E-mail: mjm.ocean.sci@gmail.com (Miller)
¹⁰Nanae Freshwater Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, 2-9-1, Sakura-cho, Nanae, Kameda-gun, Hokkaido 041-1105, Japan. E-mail: shagihara@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp (Hagihara)
¹¹School of Marine Biosciences, Kitasato University, 1‑15‑1 Kitasato, Minami‑ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252‑0373, Japan. E-mail: yosinaga@kitasato-u.ac.jp (Yoshinaga)
¹²Research Centre for Collaboration on Aquatic Ecosystem in Eastern Indonesia. Jl. Ir. Putuhena, Ambon 97233, Indonesia
¹³Research Center for Limnology and Water Resources-National Research and Innovation Agency, JL. Raya Bogor Km 46. Bogor 16911 Indonesia. E-mail: triyanto@limnologi.lipi.go.id (Triyanto)
¹⁴Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science, Sam Ratulangi University, Jl. Kampus UNSRAT Bahu, Manado, Sulawesi Utara 95115, Indonesia. E-mail: alex_masengi@unsrat.ac.id (Masengi)
¹⁵Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8564, Japan. E-mail: katsu@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Sato)

^§SW and FYT contributed equally to this work.
(Received 20 April 2023 / Accepted 10 July 2023 / Published 19 September 2023)
Communicated by Hin-Kiu Mok

The tropical Celebes eel, Anguilla celebesensis, has a short migration between its spawning and growth habitats. Its spawning areas were hypothesized to be in Tomini Bay and the Celebes Sea after collecting their small leptocephali. However, there is no information about the silver eel oceanic spawning migration behavior of A. celebesensis. To better understand their short-distance spawning migration behavior, four large female silver eels (Eel 1–4) were equipped with pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) and released near the mouth of the Poso River in Tomini Bay of Sulawesi Island on 22 February (Eel 1–3) and 11 March 2010 (Eel 4). All PSATs ascended in Tomini Bay and transmitted their data. Eel 3 and 4 provided clear records of consistent diel vertical migration (DVM: eight days-Eel 3, 13 days-Eel 4) with daytime dives to mean depths of 444.7 m (Eel 3) and 539.0 m (Eel 4), where mean temperatures were 9.1°C (Eel 3) and 7.7°C (Eel 4), and nighttime ascents to mean depths of 132.8 m (Eel 3) and 112.4 m (Eel 4), where mean temperatures were 20.6°C (Eel 3) and 23.4°C (Eel 4). Eel 3 and 4 started to dive to deeper water around nautical dawn and swam up to shallower water around sunset. During nighttime, both eels swam in deeper and colder water during nights with moonlight than during nights without moonlight, and there was a negative linear relationship between experienced water temperatures with the moon in the sky and the lunar age for the eels. The A. celebesensis daily rhythm of DVM behaviors was similar to spawningmigration DVM behaviors of other anguillid species. Essential life history characteristics of A. celebesensis appear to be a short migration between freshwater growth habitat and ocean spawning habitat, and high GSI values with advanced gonadal development in downstream-migrating silver eels.

Key words: Celebes eel, Diel vertical migration, Lunar cycle, Spawning migration, Migration distance

Citation: Manabe R, Higuchi T, Watanabe S, Tantu FY, Sugeha HY, Kaneko H, Miller MJ, Hagihara S, Yoshinaga T, Syahailatua A, Wouthuyzen S, Triyanto, Masengi KWA, Sato K, Aoyama J, Tsukamoto K. 2023. Migration Behavior of Anguilla celebesensis silver eels within their Tomini Bay Spawning area. Zool Stud 62:46. doi:10.6620/ZS.2023.62-46.

Supplementary materials: Fig. S1丨Fig. S2丨Fig. S3丨Table S1丨Table S2