Abstract
We report a sudden explosive rise in abundance off southeastern China of a fish species that is hypoxia-tolerant, Bombay duck (Harpadon nehereus, Family Synodontidae), belonging to an Order (the Aulopiformes) encompassing overwhelmingly deep-sea fishes, but which predominantly occurs in coastal water. We suggest that this is made possible by the very high water content of its muscle and other tissues (about 90%, vs 75–80% for other coastal fish), which reduces its oxygen requirements and allows it to outcompete other fish in low-oxygen neritic and estuarine waters. We suggest that the extent to which this drastic shift in abundance and in the resulting community structure in a very extensive and extremely important coastal marine ecosystem offer evidence of growth of ocean deoxygenation along the western edge of the North Pacific Ocean. Also, we suggest that this episode may represent an instructive example of similar disruptions of established marine biological community structures and interlinked life support and natural resource systems that may be expected to emerge under current global trends of climate/environmental change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bakun A (2005) Regime shifts. In: Robinson AR, Brink K (eds) The sea, vol. 13. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p 972–1018
Bakun A, Roy C, Lluch-Cota S (1998) Coastal upwelling and other processes regulating ecosystem productivity and fish production in the western Indian Ocean. In: Sherman K, Okemwa E, Ntiba MJ (eds) Large marine ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: assessment, sustainability, and management. Blackwell Science, Malden, pp 103–141
Bakun A (2017) Climate change and ocean deoxygenation within intensified surface-driven upwelling circulations. Phil Trans R Soc A 375:20160327
Bapat SV (1970) The Bombay duck, Harpodon nehereus (Ham.). Bulletin of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute No. 21, 66 p.
Belkin IG (2009) Rapid warming of large marine ecosystems. Prog Oceanogr 81:207–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2009.04.011
Bykov VP (1983) Marine fishes: chemical composition and processing properties. Amerind Publishing Co., Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, p 322
Chen CC, Gong GC, Shiah F (2007) Hypoxia in the East China Sea: one of the largest coastal low-oxygen areas in the world. Mar Environ Res 64:399–408
Childress JJ, Nygaard MH (1973) The chemical composition of midwater fishes as a function of depth of occurrence off southern California. Deep-Sea Res 20:1093–1109
Deng XY, Yu CG, Shui YY, Weng LC, Ding JW, Zhang P, Miao L (2018) Spatial and temporal variation in fish species composition and abundance in Zhoushan coastal waters during spring and autumn. Ecological Science 37:10–19
Diaz RJ, Rosenberg R (2008) Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science 321:926–929
Drazen JC (2006) Depth related trends in proximate composition of demersal fish in the eastern North Pacific. Deep-Sea Res Part I 54:203–219
Gilly WF, Markaida U, Baxter CH, Block BA, Boustany A, Zeidberg L, Reisenbichler K, Robison B, Bazzino G, Salinas C (2006) Vertical and horizontal migrations by the jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas revealed by electronic tagging. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 324:1–17
Gopakumar K (ed) (1997) Biochemical composition of Indian food fish. Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, India, p 44
Gould SJ, Vrba E (1982) Exaptation–a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology 8(1):4–15
Hu J, San Liang X, Lin H (2018) Coastal upwelling off the China coasts. Coastal environment, disaster, and infrastructure–a case study of China’s coastline. IntechOpen, London, pp 3–25. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80738
Kang B, Li J, Zhao JQ et al (2018) Fishery resources and ecological environment of Minjiang Estuary. China Agriculture Press, Beijing
Keeling RF, Körtzinger A, Gruber N (2010) Ocean deoxygenation in a warming world. Ann Rev Mar Sci 2:199–229
Koel TM, Tronstad LM, Arnold JL, Gunther KA, Smith DW, Syslo JM, White PJ (2019) Predatory fish invasion induces within and across ecosystem effects in Yellowstone National Park. Sci Adv 5:eaav1139
Kong CE, Yoo S, Jang CJ (2019) East China Sea under multiple stressors: heterogenous response in the sea surface chlorophyll-a. Deep-Sea Res Part I:151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.103078
Li J, Kang B (2020) Dominant species drive seasonal dynamics of the fish community in the Min estuary, China. Oceanol Hydrobiol Stud 49:34–48
Liang C, Xian W, Pauly D (2018) Impacts of ocean warming on China’s fisheries catch: application of the ‘mean temperature of the catch.’ Front Mar Sci 5:26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00026
Liang C, Pauly D (2017) Growth and mortality of exploited fishes in China’s coastal seas and their uses for yield-per-recruit analyses. J Appl Ichthyol 33(4):746–756. https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.13379.]
Lin LS (2009) Spatial distribution and environmental characteristics of Harpodon nehereus in the East China Sea region. J Shanghai Univ 18:66–71
Luo, H.Z. 2012. Study of main biology character and analysis resource status of Harpodon nehereus. Master’s thesis, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan City (in Chinese).
Olson E 2017 The evolution of fangs across ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). Culminating Projects in Biology. 22. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/biol_etds/22. Accessed 24 Dec 2020
Palomares MLD, Pauly D (2009) The growth of jellyfishes. Hydrobiologia 616:11–21
Pauly, D. 2019. Gasping fish and panting squids: oxygen, temperature and the growth of water-breathing animals–2nd edition. Excellence in Ecology (22), International Ecology Institute, Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany, 279 p.
Richardson AJ, Bakun A, Hays GC, Gibbons MJ (2009) The jellyfish joyride: causes, consequences and management responses to a more gelatinous future. Trends Ecol Evol 24(6):312–322
Yang BZ, Yang L, Tan YG, Yan L, Zhang P (2013) Preliminary analysis on catch composition of gillnet fishery for Harpodon nehereus in north part of the South China Sea. Guangdong Agriculture Sciences 40:99–102
Zhang B, Jin XS (2014) Feeding habits and ontogenetic diet shifts of Bombay duck, Harpadon nehereus. Chinese J Oceano Limno l 32(3):542–548
Funding
B.K. and L.L. were funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41976091) and the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1406302). A.B. and D.P. declare no funding.
The authors declare no competing interests. All authors agreed to participate, and for this contribution to be published. No ethics approval of code was requited, and all data used for this contribution are included in its text and/or exhibits.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kang, B., Bakun, A., Lin, L. et al. Increase of a hypoxia-tolerant fish, Harpadon nehereus (Synodontidae), as a result of ocean deoxygenation off southwestern China. Environ Biol Fish 105, 1399–1403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01130-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01130-7