Abstract
The previously studied geographic variability in the growth patterns of different European sardine or European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) populations has been attributed to the trophic status and productivity of the various ecosystems, as well as the genetic distance among populations. However, in the face of ocean warming and its multifaceted effects on marine populations and fisheries, it is interesting to explore growth patterns through the prism of sea temperature and dissolved oxygen. Here, data on the asymptotic length, growth coefficient, and maximum reported age of 47 Atlantic and Mediterranean sardine populations, covering the entire geographical range of its distribution, were extracted from published sources and were correlated with regional sea surface temperature and dissolved oxygen. Asymptotic length was negatively related to sea temperature and more strongly positively related to oxygen levels, indicating that sardines grow to larger body size in cooler waters that are more oxygenated. Within the context of climate change, the link of intraspecific growth variability with temperature and oxygen draws attention to the adverse effects this might have on many fish biological characteristics in a warming future.
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We would like to thank Daniel Pauly for the useful suggestions he provided on the draft of this manuscript and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions that improved our work.
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Dimarchopoulou, D., Tsikliras, A.C. Linking growth patterns to sea temperature and oxygen levels across European sardine (Sardina pilchardus) populations. Environ Biol Fish 105, 1335–1345 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01229-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01229-5