The Seaward Migration of European Eel at a Continental Scale: A Europe-Wide Biotelemetry Meta-Analysis

IF 6.1 1区农林科学 Q1 FISHERIES

Fish and Fisheries Pub Date : 2025-05-21 DOI:10.1111/faf.12904

Pieterjan Verhelst, David Righton, Kim Aarestrup, Pedro R. Almeida, Tea Bašić, Jonathan D. Bolland, Liam Carter, Johan Coeck, José Lino Costa, Justas Dainys, Jan Grimsrud Davidsen, Isabel Domingos, Malte Dorow, Eric Feunteun, Jens Frankowski, Arie Benjamin Griffioen, Rui Miguel Monteiro, Andy Moore, Damiano Oldoni, Adam T. Piper, Bernardo R. Quintella, Jake Reeds, Thomas Trancart, Pieter Verschelde, Hendrik Volken Winter, Jan Reubens

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Abstract

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) has a catadromous life cycle, with a single panmictic population that colonises continental Europe and northern Africa yet migrates 5000 to 9000 km to spawn in the Atlantic Ocean. It is unknown how this continental migration is organised so individual eels arrive in time for spawning with conspecifics. This meta-analysis combined tracking data from 18 water bodies in freshwater and transitional systems distributed along the southwest-northeast axis of Europe, resulting in a dataset of 2306 eels, making it the most comprehensive in terms of geographical coverage and number of eels tagged. The eels were tracked using acoustic telemetry and the Nedap Trail System and allowed us to study the eel's migration phenology at a continental scale. The findings reveal that the day when eels arrive at sea varies significantly with latitude, with northern eels arriving earlier. Migration speed differs between tidal and non-tidal habitats, suggesting that tidal currents facilitate faster movement. However, despite these patterns, we observed substantial variability in arrival at sea time and migration speed within water bodies, suggesting that the eel's migration phenology is considerably plastic. The presence of water regulating structures such as weirs, pumping stations and hydropower plants can impact migration timing and speed, potentially delaying eels, but is likely dependent on local hydrological conditions which can be water body specific.

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欧洲鳗鱼在大陆尺度上的向海迁移：全欧洲范围内的生物遥测Meta分析

欧洲鳗（Anguilla Anguilla L.）有一个灾难性的生命周期，一个单一的种群在欧洲大陆和北非殖民，然后迁徙5000到9000公里到大西洋产卵。目前尚不清楚这种大陆迁徙是如何组织的，因此个体鳗鱼及时到达与同种鳗鱼一起产卵。这项荟萃分析结合了来自18个淡水水体的跟踪数据，以及分布在欧洲西南-东北轴线上的过渡系统，得出了2306条鳗鱼的数据集，使其成为地理覆盖范围和标记鳗鱼数量最全面的数据集。我们利用声波遥测技术和Nedap追踪系统对鳗鱼进行了追踪，这使我们能够在大陆范围内研究鳗鱼的迁徙物候。研究结果显示，鳗鱼出海的时间随纬度变化很大，北部的鳗鱼到达的时间更早。有潮和无潮栖息地的迁徙速度不同，表明潮流促进了更快的迁徙。然而，尽管有这些模式，我们观察到鳗鱼到达海上的时间和在水体内的迁移速度有很大的变化，这表明鳗鱼的迁移物候具有相当大的可塑性。诸如堰、泵站和水电站等调水设施的存在会影响鳗鱼迁移的时间和速度，可能会推迟鳗鱼的迁移，但这可能取决于当地的水文条件，而这些水文条件可能是水体特定的。

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来源期刊

Fish and Fisheries 农林科学-渔业

CiteScore

12.80

自引率

6.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Fish and Fisheries adopts a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the subject of fish biology and fisheries. It draws contributions in the form of major synoptic papers and syntheses or meta-analyses that lay out new approaches, re-examine existing findings, methods or theory, and discuss papers and commentaries from diverse areas. Focal areas include fish palaeontology, molecular biology and ecology, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, ecology, behaviour, evolutionary studies, conservation, assessment, population dynamics, mathematical modelling, ecosystem analysis and the social, economic and policy aspects of fisheries where they are grounded in a scientific approach. A paper in Fish and Fisheries must draw upon all key elements of the existing literature on a topic, normally have a broad geographic and/or taxonomic scope, and provide general points which make it compelling to a wide range of readers whatever their geographical location. So, in short, we aim to publish articles that make syntheses of old or synoptic, long-term or spatially widespread data, introduce or consolidate fresh concepts or theory, or, in the Ghoti section, briefly justify preliminary, new synoptic ideas. Please note that authors of submissions not meeting this mandate will be directed to the appropriate primary literature.