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A comparative analysis of European eel’s somatic growth in the coastal lagoon Santo André (Portugal) with growth in other estuaries and freshwater habitats

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Abstract

Age and growth of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) from a coastal lagoon in southwestern Europe were investigated using a sample of 871 eels. Fish were caught with fyke nets in two fishing seasons, 2011/12 and 2015/16. Age was determined by reading sagittal otoliths and age estimates were validated through semi-direct methods. The yellow and silver eels ranged in length from 174 to 904 mm corresponding to an age range of 2–9 years for females and 2–6 years for males. Length-at-age was estimated through back-calculation using the measurements taken in otoliths and a common biological intercept. The von Bertalanffy growth equation fitted to the back-calculated lengths is \({L}_{t}(\mathrm{mm})= 673.5\left[1-{e}^{-0.45 \left(t - 0.17\right)}\right]\) for females, and \({L}_{t}(\mathrm{mm})= 338.1 [1-{e}^{-1.23 \left(t - 0.15\right)}]\) for males. The growth rate of the eel population in Santo André lagoon is high and the males show an early onset of maturity. The mean length of males at silvering is almost half the size of silvering females. Comparison with eel somatic growth from 17 other geographical locations revealed that the eel growth in Santo André lagoon is among the fastest reported for the species. A principal component analysis showed a gradient in somatic growth ranging from fast-growing eels in coastal lagoons (larger K, early maturity, smaller asymptotic size Linf) to slow-growing eels in freshwaters (smaller K, late maturity, larger Linf).

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Partial financial support was received from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the PhD Grant attributed to MJ Correia (SFRH/BD/101396/2014). FCT also financed the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2019 and the Grant Agreement No PTDC/AAC-AMB/104639/2008, both granted to the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre. The study was also partially funded by the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Sea and co-funded by the European Fisheries Fund through the Grant PROMAR 31–03-02-FEP-4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARE, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Maria João Correia, Isabel Domingos & José Lino Costa

  2. Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Isabel Domingos & José Lino Costa

  3. Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA

    Giulio A. De Leo

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  1. Maria João Correia
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  2. Isabel Domingos
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  3. Giulio A. De Leo
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  4. José Lino Costa
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Correspondence to Maria João Correia.

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This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations present in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the European Union 62/2010, in Portugal under DL nº 129/92, Portaria nº 1005/92 and DL 113/2013. Individual permissions to collect specimens were provided by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forestry, I.P. (ICNF, IP). After collection, fish were euthanized by anaesthesia with a saturated solution of 2-phenoxyethanol and later frozen at -20 °C for conservation before dissection and otolith extraction.

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Correia, M.J., Domingos, I., De Leo, G.A. et al. A comparative analysis of European eel’s somatic growth in the coastal lagoon Santo André (Portugal) with growth in other estuaries and freshwater habitats. Environ Biol Fish 104, 837–850 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01123-6

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