For properly setting the bluefin tuna larvae age, scientists from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have established common and consensual reading criteria between the two research teams that are jointly studying the larval ecology of this species in its main egg-laying scenarios: the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.
During the five-day workshop, held at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Centre in Miami, Spanish and US scientists have been performing intercalibration exercises and interpretation of daily ring readings and defined the common criteria that will serve as a basis for the comparative study of growth variability in larval stages of bluefin tuna.
The workshop is part of the collaboration that has been taking place in recent years among different American institutions and the IEO, which have led to different studies to deepen the knowledge of the larval ecology of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus).
This co-operation has been reflected in the financing of the coordinated National Plan for R&D&I "Comparative trophic ecology of Atlantic bluefin tuna larvae from NW-MED and GOM (Ecolatun)" CTM2015-68473-R (Mineco/FEDER), coordinated by the IEO and with the participation of Mexican researchers and scientists from Ecosur and American ones from NOAA-SEFSC, the University of the City of New York (CUNY) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
The Ecolatun project will investigate the variability of feeding resources with the trophic levels of bluefin tuna larvae and, consequently, with changes in their growth.
The expected results will provide completely new information on the larval ecology of bluefin tuna in relation to its trophodynamics and the specific growth strategy of each ecosystem as well as the response of the ontogenetic development with the changes of diet.
The IEO points out that the proposed study has considerable relevance in predicting possible habitat scenarios suitable for larval survival.
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