Fisheries Oceanography最新文献

{"title":"Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity of Fish Spawning Dynamics on the West Florida Shelf During Fall","authors":"Keith Keel,&nbsp;Makenzie Kerr,&nbsp;Laura Y. Liu,&nbsp;Yonggang Liu,&nbsp;Joshua P. Kilborn,&nbsp;Glenn Zapfe,&nbsp;Ernst B. Peebles,&nbsp;Christopher D. Stallings,&nbsp;Mya Breitbart","doi":"10.1111/fog.12731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12731","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Identifying spawning areas for economically and ecologically important fishes is critical for fisheries conservation and ecosystem-based management. We used genetic barcoding to identify fish eggs collected across the West Florida Shelf (WFS) during September of 2013, 2014, and 2019. Fish eggs were collected on Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) ichthyoplankton cruises using a Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler. Analysis of 4833 fish eggs from the 3 years resulted in the identification of 82 species within 35 families. A 78% DNA barcoding success rate was achieved, with 46% of all identifications being at the species level. PERMANOVA results revealed significant differences in fish egg beta-diversity across time (the 3 years sampled) and space (preassigned levels of both depth class and regional strata). Our findings generally aligned with known adult fish distributions and spawning patterns, and we found that water-column depth played a more important role than regional strata in structuring the fish egg assemblages. Eggs from several economically important species were collected and observed at relatively high frequencies, including red snapper, lane snapper, vermilion snapper, yellowedge grouper, and king mackerel. We used the West Florida Coastal Ocean Model to hindcast the trajectories of all fish eggs and trace them back to possible spawning locations. We conducted backward tracking over a span of 36 h based on the assumption that most fish eggs on the WFS undergo hatching within this time window. The model estimated egg transport distances ranging from 1 to 79 km (mean distance of ~21 km), with greater transport distances estimated on the outer shelf in comparison to the middle and inner shelf. These results further our understanding of the spatial and interannual variation of fish spawning dynamics on the WFS and mark the beginning of a long-term monitoring effort.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12731","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Marine Heatwaves and Climate-Driven Warming Impact Availability of Sardine Subpopulations to Northeast Pacific Fishing Ports","authors":"Barbara A. Muhling,&nbsp;Juan P. Zwolinski,&nbsp;Peter T. Kuriyama,&nbsp;Toby D. Auth,&nbsp;Richard D. Brodeur,&nbsp;Sylvia P. A. Jiménez Rosenberg,&nbsp;Gerardo Aceves-Medina,&nbsp;Jose Augusto Valencia Gasti,&nbsp;Michael G. Jacox,&nbsp;Mercedes Pozo Buil,&nbsp;Jerome Fiechter,&nbsp;Felipe J. Quezada Escalona,&nbsp;Desiree Tommasi","doi":"10.1111/fog.12730","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12730","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Changing ocean conditions are leading to spatial redistribution of many marine species, including those that support fisheries. A combination of gradual climate trends and shorter-lived extreme events, such as marine heatwaves, can change the availability of species or stocks to fishing ports, impacting fishing communities and challenging fisheries management frameworks. Pacific sardine (<i>Sardinops sagax</i>) in the California Current System are currently considered as two subpopulations for management purposes. They are separated from each other using oceanographic conditions, based on the assumption that each subpopulation is associated with different habitats and geographic areas. However, as climate change and marine heatwaves lead to increasingly novel environmental conditions in the region, habitat-based assignments may become impractical or unrealistic. In this study, we use generalized additive models to define sea surface temperature and surface chlorophyll conditions associated with the occurrence of multiple sardine life stages in fishery-independent surveys conducted in the California Current System. We then show how the spatial distribution of habitats across life stages and putative subpopulations may be influenced by both gradual climate change and marine heatwaves. Our results highlight the potential impacts of changing ocean conditions near major sardine landing ports. During recent marine heatwaves, habitat associated with the northern subpopulation became less available to southern California Current ports, and this trend is projected to continue through the end of the 21st century. Future spatial shifts in sardine habitat may increasingly challenge the practicality of habitat-based subpopulation separation and introduce more uncertainty into management frameworks.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12730","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bayesian Approach to Model Silky Shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) Presence Probability From Bycatch in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Fishery","authors":"Natalia Michelle Melgar-Martínez,&nbsp;Sofía Ortega-García,&nbsp;Raúl O. Martínez-Rincón,&nbsp;Ulianov Jakes-Cota,&nbsp;Rodrigo Moncayo-Estrada,&nbsp;Héctor Villalobos","doi":"10.1111/fog.12729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12729","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The silky shark (<i>Carcharhinus falciformis</i>) has the highest bycatch in gillnets, longlines, and purse seine globally. Its thermal and depth preferences coincide with the tropical tuna habitat, indicating a high capture vulnerability by these fisheries. The present research seeks to determine the environmental conditions that favor silky shark distribution and identify the areas with the highest probability of occurrence. The data analyzed correspond to silky shark bycatch records in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) published by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission from 2009 to 2019. The dataset contains information about bycatch (number of organisms), the number of sets made, as well as the fishing indicator (schools not associated [NOA], associated with dolphins [DEL], and with floating objects [OBJ]). The environmental variables sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH), mixed layer depth (MLD), chlorophyll-<i>a</i> (Chl-<i>a</i>), and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were considered to perform a Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) to model the entire species range distribution. The best-fitted model included MLD as the most informative variable, followed by Chl-<i>a</i> concentration and SSH. BART model identified the highest presence probabilities in the oceanic area between 15°S and 10°N and −110°W to −150°W, along the North Equatorial Current and around French Polynesia. The BART model results offer significant insights into silky sharks in the EPO, showing that the equatorial and oceanic areas are the most important for its distribution, supporting the findings from previous studies. This information is crucial for developing effective management strategies to reduce silky shark bycatch.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144207041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Roles of Environmental Change and Fishing in Norwegian Coastal Cod Stock Dynamics","authors":"Leif Christian Stige,&nbsp;Johanna Fall,&nbsp;Øystein Langangen","doi":"10.1111/fog.12728","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12728","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Disentangling the roles of fishing and environmental factors in fish stock dynamics is fundamental for sustainable fisheries management. The stock biomass of Norwegian coastal cod north of 67°N has varied between periods of increase and decline in recent decades, with declining biomass since 2014. Here we developed a population model for the dynamics of this stock. The model was statistically fitted to survey indices of abundance- and length-at-age and environmental covariates from 1995 to 2022. The final model included a negative effect of saithe biomass on survival to age 1, positive temperature effects on growth to ages 2 and 3, density dependence in survival and growth, size-dependent maturation, and negative fishery effects on adult survival. Hindcast scenario simulations, where environmental influences or mortality from fishing were fixed, were used to disentangle the roles of recruitment, growth and adult survival for stock fluctuations in recent decades. The changes in stock biomass appear mainly to be driven by adult survival and hence fishing. The fishery effects on stock biomass were mostly the direct effects of biomass removal, with no indication of fishery-caused recruitment failure at the spatial scale represented by the model.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12728","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144207065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Wind on the Simulated Dispersal and Recruitment of a Commercially Important Hawaiʻi Bottomfish","authors":"Justin J. Suca,&nbsp;Johanna L. K. Wren,&nbsp;Gabriella N. M. Mukai,&nbsp;Donald R. Kobayashi,&nbsp;Kisei R. Tanaka,&nbsp;Andrea L. Schmidt,&nbsp;Jonathan L. Whitney,&nbsp;Ryan R. Rykaczewski","doi":"10.1111/fog.12725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12725","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Variability in larval transport has long been hypothesized to drive recruitment fluctuations in fishes, yet evidence for these hypotheses is often lacking. Further, the origins of many of these hypotheses come from temperate to subpolar regions, leaving such questions largely underexplored for other regions, especially the tropics. To assess drivers of larval transport in a tropical archipelago, we simulated the dispersal of a culturally and commercially important bottomfish, uku (<i>Aprion virescens</i>), from Penguin Bank, its most prominent spawning location in the main Hawaiian islands. We used Lagrangian particle tracking models forced by a regional ocean model to assess the degree of interisland potential connectivity from this spawning location and the drivers of interannual variability in this potential connectivity across 13 years from 2008 to 2020. Simulated uku larvae released from Penguin Bank primarily reached Maui Nui and Oʻahu, the nearest potential settlement areas, with lower potential connectivity to more distant regions. Interannual variability in overall number of connections was pronounced and linked both to local wind speed and direction, with increased particle loss occurring during higher overall wind speeds and more northerly winds. Recruitment deviations from the stock assessment of uku showed a similar pattern, with recruitment estimates significantly decreasing during years of strong northerly winds. Our results provide evidence, derived from a simulation model integrating ecological and physical components, of larval dispersal patterns contributing to the recruitment of a socioeconomically important species and sensitivity of these patterns to local wind forcing. Understanding how these wind patterns will change in a warming climate may be essential to understanding patterns in uku recruitment in coming years.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12725","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144207050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring Nutritional Condition of Merluccius hubbsi During Early Life Stages: Environmental Drivers and Possible Implications on Subsequent Recruitment","authors":"Julieta Rodriguez,&nbsp;Nadia M. Alves,&nbsp;Harold Fenco Chavesta,&nbsp;Gustavo J. Macchi,&nbsp;Agustin Schiariti,&nbsp;Rosana Di Mauro,&nbsp;Marina V. Diaz","doi":"10.1111/fog.12724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12724","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The early life stages of fish represent a period of high energy requirements due to profound changes that characterize the passage to adulthood, crucial for fisheries recruitment. This study focuses on the North Patagonian Frontal System (NPFS) that guarantees successful larval development and fulfills the three postulates of Bakun's “fundamental triad” in regards to nutrients, concentration of food, and retention of eggs and larvae inside the favorable area. The objective was to evaluate the nutritional condition of <i>Merluccius hubbsi</i> larvae and juveniles, from the Patagonian stock in January during austral summer (2010–2021). The standardized RNA/DNA index (RDs) was used. Interannual variation in the larval condition was observed in relation to NPFS features. RDs were positively linked to the stratification of the water column in the stratified zone. An opposite trend was observed between larval condition and potential egg production that might indicate the existence of density-dependent mechanisms. On the other hand, the positive relation between larval condition and egg production of older females (≥7 years) supports the idea of a maternal effect on larval survival. There was also a positive relationship between juveniles condition, body size, and recruitment, but no relationship was observed with the stratification of the water column. The high sensitivity of the RDs index links physiological state with survival probability, informing on factors affecting eggs, larvae, and juveniles until their posterior recruitment. This study identified the stratified area of the NPFS as a favorable nursery zone, providing crucial information for managing populations under high fishing pressure.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Surface Level: Evaluating Spatial Incongruencies in High-Resolution Bottom Temperature Trends for the Gulf of Mexico, 1996–2012","authors":"Jill C. Thorr,&nbsp;Don Chambers,&nbsp;John A. Quinlan,&nbsp;Joshua P. Kilborn,&nbsp;Steven A. Murawski","doi":"10.1111/fog.12726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12726","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Semi-enclosed seas present complex and nonlinear challenges to understanding climate impacts on fisheries because continental margins restrict poleward movement by taxa seeking to maintain preferred temperatures. The Gulf of Mexico (GoM), a semi-enclosed, marginal sea surrounded by the North American continent, supports many economically and ecologically important demersal species. A comprehensive assessment of GoM demersal environments is vital to understanding and predicting potential distribution shifts by such taxa. Here we present a Gulf-wide, interannual spatial evaluation of bottom temperature trends between 1996-2012. We validated and used bottom temperature products from a regional reanalysis with 24-h temporal and 1/25° spatial resolution (33,159 grid cells and 6209 days). Ordinary least-squares and autoregressive models estimated temporal trends and uncertainty, and optimized hot spot analyses identified spatial locales of anomalies. Bottom water cooling occurred along the West Florida Shelf, Florida Keys, northwest Cuba, and the Tamaulipas-Veracruz Shelf. Warming trends dominated the Bay of Campeche and Louisiana–Texas Shelf. Highest warming and cooling rates were 0.25 (± 0.011)°C year⁻¹ (uncertainty as 95% confidence; located in the Campeche subregion) and −0.12 (± 0.015)°C year⁻¹ (located in the Florida Keys), respectively. Increased duration of Loop Current impingement on the “pressure point” near the Dry Tortugas may drive the observed cooling trends in the eastern GoM, whereas warming trends likely arise from mixing of shallow surface waters. This study highlights the importance of spatiotemporal bottom temperature analyses in complex semi-enclosed seas where bottom temperature trends may be counterfactual to the long-term surface warming narrative.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12726","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geographical Variation in Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Ratios and Feeding Habits of Japanese Jack Mackerel (Trachurus japonicus)","authors":"Megumi Enomoto,&nbsp;Seiji Ohshimo,&nbsp;Shin-ichi Ito","doi":"10.1111/fog.12722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12722","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Japanese jack mackerel (<i>Trachurus japonicus</i>) is subject to substantial and escalating commercial harvesting activities, yet its habitat structure is poorly understood. We analyzed the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of this species to evaluate geographical fluctuations in these ratios, allowing a delineation of the jack mackerel feeding habits. Fish specimens were collected across the East China Sea (ECS) and Sea of Japan (JS), and isotopic data were retrieved from two previous studies. Six subareas were considered: the southern, central, and northern ECS; Tsushima Strait; and eastern and western JS. The residuals of isotope ratios predicted from fork length showed significant geographical variation in the ratios (a lower δ¹³C in the JS than in the ECS and Tsushima Strait; a lower δ¹⁵N in the eastern JS and southern ECS than in other areas). Comparisons of stable isotope ratios between jack mackerel and prey candidates also revealed geographical differences in potential prey selection. The potential prey was identified as anchovy larvae and larger Copepoda in the western and eastern JS, respectively, whereas various prey species contributed to the diet in the other areas. Both δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N increased with fork length, suggesting ontogenetic changes in foraging habitat, associated with habit shifts into demersal layers of jack mackerel during their growth. Collectively, our results suggest that stable isotope ratio values—and consequently, the feeding habits—of jack mackerel differed between the ECS and JS but that they possess a limited migration range after an ontogenetic shift to demersal layers.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leveraging Data From Defunct Gillnet Fisheries to Understand the Distributional Dynamics of a Rare Pelagic Fish, the Louvar (Luvarus imperialis)","authors":"Martin C. Arostegui,&nbsp;Camrin D. Braun","doi":"10.1111/fog.12723","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12723","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The louvar (<i>Luvarus imperialis</i>) is an exceedingly rare circumtropical fish species with a poorly understood ecology. Catch data from defunct drift gillnet fisheries provide an unparalleled way to quantify the distributional dynamics of this species that, as a gelativore, is almost never taken as bycatch on fish- or squid-baited longlines that dominate modern open ocean fisheries. Here, we present the largest observational dataset assembled for louvar, combining &gt; 30 years of observer presence–absence records from two such fisheries spanning a vast expanse of the pelagic North Pacific. We leverage these data to construct a species distribution model that quantifies the species' environmental preferences, enabling us to confront the knowledge gaps on its core distribution and investigate variability among seasons, years, and alternate phases of climate oscillations. We show that this enigmatic species favors waters with positive sea surface height and shallow mixed layer depth, consistent with high, but seasonally variable, model-predicted suitable habitat in the North Pacific Transition Zone and California Current. In addition, our results suggest that louvar have experienced slight loss of habitat from 1990 to 2023 in response to large-scale climate oscillations. This study highlights the value of using a species distribution model framework to synthesize diverse datasets, characterize species–environment relationships, and infer basic spatiotemporal dynamics for rare species that cannot be reliably sampled.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Flying Fish Habitat and Co-Occurrence With Seabirds in the Northern Gulf of Mexico","authors":"Pamela E. Michael,&nbsp;J. Christopher Haney,&nbsp;Jeffrey S. Gleason,&nbsp;Kathy M. Hixson,&nbsp;Yvan G. Satgé,&nbsp;Patrick G. R. Jodice","doi":"10.1111/fog.12712","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12712","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Flying fish (family <i>Exocoetidae</i>) play an important role in marine food webs, linking sub-surface and aerial predators. The association of seabirds with sub-surface predators in subtropical and tropical regions through facilitated foraging events is a well-known phenomenon and is sometimes used to identify fishing grounds for flying fish, flying fish roe, and tunas. In the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM), few studies have assessed flying fish distribution, and none have directly evaluated flying fish–seabird co-occurrence. Using vessel-based observations of surfacing flying fish flights, we characterized the distribution of flying fish and their co-occurrence patterns with seabirds in the nGoM. We modeled the distribution and relative density of flying fish flights using Generalized Additive Models. We then assessed co-occurrence patterns of flying fish with all seabird species seen in the area, encompassing the footprint of flying fish detections. Flying fish were detected across the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, with flight densities greater on the mid-continental shelf and into pelagic waters south of Louisiana, and greater flight densities were associated with regionally low chlorophyll-<i>a</i> and warm water. Flying fish flights were greatest in spring months through early fall months. Sooty terns (<i>Onychoprion fuscatus</i>), considered near-obligate commensals with tuna, contributed a much higher percent of the cumulative density of the seabirds co-occurring with versus without flying fish. Flying fish could be an ecological attractant for high abundances of visually conspicuous sooty terns, the presence of which may lead to the formation of ephemeral facilitated foraging events consisting of mixed-species seabird flocks.</p>","PeriodicalId":51054,"journal":{"name":"Fisheries Oceanography","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fog.12712","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}