Aspects of the biology and life history of largespot pompano, Trachinotus botla, in South Africa
D. Parker A B and A. J. Booth A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, PO Box 94, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa.
B Corresponding author. Email: denhamparker@gmail.com
Marine and Freshwater Research 66(3) 247-255 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF14029
Submitted: 31 January 2014 Accepted: 16 June 2014 Published: 5 November 2014
Abstract
Trachinotus botla is an important recreational surf zone-dependent fish species distributed in the Indo-west Pacific from South Africa to Australia. In South Africa it is restricted to the northern KwaZulu-Natal coast. Biological investigations revealed that it is a fast growing species that attains a maximum age of ~7 years. Males and females sexually matured in their third year. It has a protracted summer spawning season with evidence of serial spawning behaviour. T. botla is an opportunistic predator with a generalist diet, with fish feeding on a wide variety of prey items particularly those that are temporally ‘superabundant’. Small fish fed predominantly on copepods and terrestrial insects, whereas larger fish consumed bivalves and crabs. Teleosts, primarily engraulids, were important components to the diet of fish of all sizes. An ontogenetic dietary shift was observed just after sexual maturity (~300-mm fork length) that is possibly linked to a change in habitat preference with larger fish foraging on deeper reefs.
Additional keywords: Carangidae, diet, fisheries, growth, reproduction.
References
Beamish, R. J., and Fournier, D. A. (1981). A method for comparing the precision of a set of age determinations. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 38, 982–983.Beamish, C. A., Booth, A. J., and Deacon, N. (2005). Age, growth and reproduction of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, in Lake Manyame, Zimbabwe. African Zoology 40, 63–69.
Bennett, R. H., Götz, A., and Sauer, W. H. H. (2009). Optimisation of underwater visual census and controlled angling methods for monitoring subtidal temperate reef fish communities. African Journal of Marine Science 31, 277–287.
| Optimisation of underwater visual census and controlled angling methods for monitoring subtidal temperate reef fish communities.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bowker, A. H. (1948). A test for symmetry in contingency tables. Journal of the American Statistical Association 43, 572–574.
| A test for symmetry in contingency tables.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:STN:280:DyaH1M%2FisVKluw%3D%3D&md5=73d9b6747b108f61b038789189f2d4e9CAS | 18123073PubMed |
Brewer, D. T., Blaber, S. J. M., Milton, D. A., and Salini, J. P. (1994). Aspects of the biology of Caranx bucculentus (Teleostei: Carangidae) from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 45, 413–427.
Brown, A. C., and McLachlan, A. (1990). ‘Ecology of Sandy Shores.’ (Elsevier: Amsterdam.)
Caldow, C., and Wellington, G. M. (2003). Patterns of annual increment formation in otoliths of pomacentrids in the tropical western Atlantic: implications for population age-structure examination. Marine Ecology Progress Series 265, 185–195.
| Patterns of annual increment formation in otoliths of pomacentrids in the tropical western Atlantic: implications for population age-structure examination.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Campana, S. E. (2001). Accuracy, precision and quality control in age determination, including a review of the use and abuse of age validation methods. Journal of Fish Biology 59, 197–242.
| Accuracy, precision and quality control in age determination, including a review of the use and abuse of age validation methods.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Crabtree, R. E., Hood, P. B., and Snodgrass, D. (2002). Age, growth, and reproduction of permit (Trachinotus falcatus) in Florida waters. Fishery Bulletin 100, 26–34.
DEEDI (2011). Stock Status of Queensland’s Fisheries Resources 2011. Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Queensland.
Efron, B. (1979). Bootstrap methods: another look at the jackknife. Annals of Statistics 7, 1–26.
| Bootstrap methods: another look at the jackknife.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Forbes, A. T., and Cyrus, D. P. (1991). Recruitment and origin of penaeid prawn postlarvae in two South-east African estuaries. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 33, 281–289.
| Recruitment and origin of penaeid prawn postlarvae in two South-east African estuaries.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Götz, A., Kerwath, S. E., Attwood, C. G., and Sauer, W. H. H. (2009). Effects of fishing on a temperate reef community in South Africa 1: ichthyofauna. African Journal of Marine Science 31, 241–251.
| Effects of fishing on a temperate reef community in South Africa 1: ichthyofauna.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hyslop, E. J. (1980). Stomach contents analysis – a review of methods and their application. Journal of Fish Biology 17, 411–429.
| Stomach contents analysis – a review of methods and their application.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Inoue, T., Suda, Y., and Sano, M. (2005). Food habits of fishes in the surf zone of a sandy beach at Sanrimatsubara, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Ichthyologcal Research 52, 9–14.
| Food habits of fishes in the surf zone of a sandy beach at Sanrimatsubara, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Keast, A. (1977). Feeding and food overlaps between the year classes relative to the resource base, in the yellow perch, Perca flavescens. Environmental Biology of Fishes 2, 53–70.
| Feeding and food overlaps between the year classes relative to the resource base, in the yellow perch, Perca flavescens.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lasiak, T., and McLachlan, A. (1987). Opportunistic utilization of mysid shoals by surf zone teleosts. Marine Ecology Progress Series 37, 1–7.
| Opportunistic utilization of mysid shoals by surf zone teleosts.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Man, H. S. H., and Hodgkiss, I. J. (1977). Studies on the ichthyofauna in Plover Cove Reservoir, Hong Kong: feeding and food relations. Journal of Fish Biology 11, 1–13.
| Studies on the ichthyofauna in Plover Cove Reservoir, Hong Kong: feeding and food relations.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mann, B. Q. (2008). ‘St Lucia Marine Reserve Surf-Zone Fish Monitoring & Tagging.’ (Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI): Durban, South Africa.)
Manooch, C. S., and Potts, J. C. (1997). Age, growth, and mortality of greater amberjack, Seriola dumerili, from the US Gulf of Mexico headboat fishery. Bulletin of Marine Science 61, 671–683.
McFarland, W. N. (1963). Seasonal change in the number and the biomass of fishes from the surf at Mustang Island, Texas. Publications of the Institute of Marine Science, University of Texas 9, 91–105.
McPhee, D. P. (1999). The biology and management of the surf zone carangid Trachinotus botla in Queensland, Australia. PhD Thesis, University of Queensland.
Morales-Nin, B., and Panfili, J. (2005). Seasonality in the deep sea and tropics revisited: what can otoliths tell us? Marine and Freshwater Research 56, 585–598.
| Seasonality in the deep sea and tropics revisited: what can otoliths tell us?Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Moriwake, A. M., Moriwake, V. N., Ostrowski, A. C., and Lee, C. S. (2001). Natural spawning of the bluefin trevally Caranx melampygus in captivity. Aquaculture 203, 159–164.
| Natural spawning of the bluefin trevally Caranx melampygus in captivity.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mourad, M. H. (1999). Age determination of Trachinotus ovatus (L.) based on otolith weight. Journal of KAU: Marine Sciences 10, 149–155.
Muller, R. G., Tisdel, K., and Murphy, M. D. (2002). The 2002 update of the stock assessment of Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus). pp. 43. (Florida Marine Research Institute: St Petersburg, FL.)
Murphy, M. D., Muller, R. G., and Guindon, K. (2007). A stock assessment for pompano, Trachinotus carolinus, in Florida waters through 2005. In ‘FWRI In House Report’. pp. 113. (Fish and Wildlife Research Institute: St Petersburg, FL.)
Nevoux, M., Forcada, J., Barbraud, C., Croxall, J., and Weimerskirch, H. (2010). Bet-hedging response to environmental variability, an intraspecific comparison. Ecology 91, 2416–2427.
| Bet-hedging response to environmental variability, an intraspecific comparison.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 20836463PubMed |
Parker, D., Booth, A. J., and Mann, B. Q. (2013). A spatio-temporal assessment of the Trachinotus botla shore-fishery in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. African Journal of Marine Science 35, 35–46.
| A spatio-temporal assessment of the Trachinotus botla shore-fishery in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
R Development Core Team (2011). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. (R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria.)
Rowling, K., Hegarty, A., and Ives, M. (2010). Dart. In ‘Status of Fisheries Resources in NSW 2008/09’. pp. 91–92. (Industry & Investment NSW: Sydney.)
Schleyer, M. H., and Wallace, J. H. (1986). Stomachs contents of some shore-caught teleosts of Natal, South Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 21, 272–274.
Schnute, J. (1981). A versatile growth model with statistically stable parameters. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 38, 1128–1140.
| A versatile growth model with statistically stable parameters.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Smith, M., and Heemstra, P. (2003). ‘Smith’s Sea Fishes.’ (Struik Publishers: Cape Town, South Africa.)
Sudekum, A. E., James, D. P., Richard, L. R., and Stephen, R. (1991). Life history and ecology of large jacks in undisturbed, shallow, oceanic communities. Fishery Bulletin 89, 493–513.
Timonin, A. G., Arashkevich, E. G., Drits, A. V., and Semenova, T. N. (1992). Zooplankton dynamics in the northern Benguela ecosystem, with special reference to the copepod Calanoides carinatus. South African Journal of Marine Science 12, 545–560.
| Zooplankton dynamics in the northern Benguela ecosystem, with special reference to the copepod Calanoides carinatus.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
van der Elst, R. P. (1993). ‘A Guide to the Common Sea Fishes of Southern Africa.’ (Struik Publishers: Durban, South Africa.)
von Westernhagen, H. (1974). Observations on the natural spawning of Alectis indicus (Rüppell) and Caranx ignobilis (Forsk.) (Carangidae). Journal of Fish Biology 6, 513–516.
| Observations on the natural spawning of Alectis indicus (Rüppell) and Caranx ignobilis (Forsk.) (Carangidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Werner, E. E., and Gilliam, J. F. (1984). The ontogenetic niche and species interactions in size-structured populations. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 15, 393–425.
| The ontogenetic niche and species interactions in size-structured populations.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams, L. E. (2002). Queensland’s Fisheries Resources: Current Condition and Recent Trends 1988–2000. Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane.
Winker, H., Ellender, B. R., Weyl, O. L. F., and Booth, A. J. (2010). Validation of growth zone deposition in otoliths of two large endemic cyprinids in Lake Gariep, South Africa. African Zoology 45, 133–138.
| Validation of growth zone deposition in otoliths of two large endemic cyprinids in Lake Gariep, South Africa.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wooldridge, T. H. (1983). Ecology of beach and surf zone mysid shrimps in the eastern Cape, south Africa. In ‘Sandy Beaches as Ecosystems’. (Eds A. McLachlan and T. Erasmus.) pp. 449–460. (Dr W. Junk Publishers: Boston, MA)
