IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v6y2015i1d10.1038_ncomms9705.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Direct observations of American eels migrating across the continental shelf to the Sargasso Sea

Author

Listed:
  • Mélanie Béguer-Pon

    (Université Laval, Pavillon Vachon, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Université Laval, Québec
    Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford)

  • Martin Castonguay

    (Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, Pêches et Océans Canada)

  • Shiliang Shan

    (Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford)

  • José Benchetrit

    (Université Laval, Pavillon Vachon, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Université Laval, Québec)

  • Julian J. Dodson

    (Université Laval, Pavillon Vachon, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Université Laval, Québec)

Abstract

Since inferring spawning areas from larval distributions in the Sargasso Sea a century ago, the oceanic migration of adult American eels has remained a mystery. No adult eel has ever been observed migrating in the open ocean or in the spawning area. Here, we track movements of maturing eels equipped with pop-up satellite archival tags from the Scotian Shelf (Canada) into the open ocean, with one individual migrating 2,400 km to the northern limit of the spawning site in the Sargasso Sea. The reconstructed routes suggest a migration in two phases: one over the continental shelf and along its edge in shallow waters; the second in deeper waters straight south towards the spawning area. This study is the first direct evidence of adult Anguilla migrating to the Sargasso Sea and represents an important step forward in the understanding of routes and migratory cues.

Suggested Citation

  • Mélanie Béguer-Pon & Martin Castonguay & Shiliang Shan & José Benchetrit & Julian J. Dodson, 2015. "Direct observations of American eels migrating across the continental shelf to the Sargasso Sea," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9705
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9705
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9705
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms9705?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9705. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.