Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:46:46.517Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the diet and reproduction of the oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus (Perciformes: Gempylidae) in the eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2010

P. Vasilakopoulos ,
M. Pavlidis  and
G. Tserpes
P. Vasilakopoulos*
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine Biological Resources, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, P.O. Box 2214, Iraklion, 71003, Greece Department of Biology, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Iraklion, 71409, Greece
M. Pavlidis
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Iraklion, 71409, Greece
G. Tserpes
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine Biological Resources, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, P.O. Box 2214, Iraklion, 71003, Greece
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: P. Vasilakopoulos, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK email: p.vasilakopoulos@abdn.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus, is an incidental by-catch of the drifting surface longlines targeting swordfish and Thunnidae in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Despite its global distribution and frequent occurrence in the catch of many fishing gears, little is known about its biology. In this study we examined the dietary preferences and reproductive biology of this species from specimens caught in the eastern Mediterranean. The most numerous and frequently occurring prey items were benthopelagic fish, followed by cephalopods. The sex-ratio was highly skewed in favour of females (1:8.4), while histological examination of the collected ovaries displayed six developmental stages (perinucleolar, early and late lipid stage; early, middle and late vitellogenesis). Oocyte diameter ranged from 23–69 μm at the perinucleolar stage to 224–366 μm at the late vitellogenesis stage. Spawning is expected to occur during mid and late summer; however there were no individuals available from this period. The findings are discussed in relation to the ecology of the species.

Keywords

Ruvettus pretiosusoilfisheastern Mediterraneanby-catchdietreproductionsex-ratio
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 91 , Issue 4 , June 2011 , pp. 873 - 881
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abascal, F.J. and Medina, A. (2005) Ultrastructure of oogenesis in the bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus. Journal of Morphology 264, 149–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arocha, F. (2002) Oocyte development and maturity classification of swordfish from the north-western Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 60, 13–27.Google Scholar
Arrington, D.A., Winemiller, K.O., Loftus, W.F. and Akin, S. (2002) How often do fishes ‘run on empty’? Ecology 83, 2145–2151.Google Scholar
Bettoso, N. and Dulcić, J. (1999) First record of the oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus (Pisces, Gempylidae) in the northern Adriatic Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 79, 1145–1146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bone, Q. (1972) Buoyancy and hydrodynamic functions of integument in the castor oil fish, Ruvettus pretiosus (Pisces, Gempylidae). Copeia 1972, 78–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromhead, D., Ackerman, J., Graham, S., Wight, M., Wise, B. and Findlay, J. (2005) Byproduct: catch, economics and co-occurrence in Australia's pelagic longline fisheries. 1st Meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, WCPFC–SC1, Noumea, New Caledonia, 8–19 August 2005, 21 pp.Google Scholar
Castro, J.J. and Santana del Pino, A. (1995) Feeding preferences of Scomber japonicus in the Canary Islands area. Scientia Marina 59, 325–333.Google Scholar
Castro, J., de la Serna, J.M., Macías, D. and Mejuto, J. (2000) Estimaciones científicas de los desembarcos de especies asociadas realizados por la flota española de palangre de superficie en 1997 y 1998. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 51, 1882–1893.Google Scholar
Chancollon, O., Pusineri, C. and Ridoux, V. (2006) Food and feeding ecology of Northeast Atlantic swordfish (Xiphias gladius) off the Bay of Biscay. ICES Journal of Marine Science 63, 1075–1085.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, C. (1981) Staining procedures. 4th edition.Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Corriero, A., Desantis, S., Deflorio, M., Acone, F., Bridges, C.R., De La Serna, J.M., Megalofonou, P. and De Metrio, G. (2003) Histological investigation on the ovarian cycle of the bluefin tuna in the western and central Mediterranean. Journal of Fish Biology 63, 108–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corriero, A., Desantis, S., Bridges, C.R., Kime, D.E., Megalofonou, P., Santamaria, N., Cirillo, F., Ventriglia, G., Di Summa, A., Deflorio, M., Campobasso, F. and De Metrio, G. (2007) Germ cell proliferation and apoptosis during different phases of swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.) spermatogenetic cycle. Journal of Fish Biology 70, 83–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortez, T., Castro, B.G. and Guerra, A. (1995) Feeding dynamics of Octopus mimus (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) in northern Chile waters. Marine Biology 123, 497–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, W.M. Jr and Reid, E.E. (1932) The chemical composition of oil of Ruvettus pretiosus, the ‘castor oil fish’. Journal of the American Chemical Society 54, 220–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damalas, D. and Megalofonou, P. (2007) By-catches of oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus, Cocco 1829) in the swordfish longline fishery of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and their association with spatial, temporal and environmental factors. In Proceedings of the 13th Hellenic Congress of Ichthyologists, Mytilene, 27–30 September 2007, pp. 113–116.Google Scholar
Elbaraasi, H., Elmariami, M., Elmeghrabi, M. and Omar, S. (2007) First record of oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus (Actinopterygii, Gempylidae), off the coast of Benghazi, Libya (southern Mediterranean). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 37, 67–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erzini, K., Goncalves, J.M.S., Bentes, L., Lino, P.G. and Ribeiro, J. (2001) The hake deepwater semi-pelagic (‘pedra-bola’) longline fishery in the Algarve (southern Portugal). Fisheries Research 51, 327–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forberg, K. (1982) A histological study of development of oocytes in capelin (Mallotus villosus villosus (M)). Journal of Fish Biology 20, 143–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, M.P., Griggs, L.B. and Baud, S.J. (2004) Fish bycatch in New Zealand tuna longline fisheries, 1998–99 to 1999–2000. New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2004/22, 62 pp.Google Scholar
Grau, A., Crespo, S., Riera, F., Pou, S. and Carmen Sarasquete, M. (1996) Oogenesis in the amberjack Seriola dumerili (Risso, 1810). A histological, histochemical and ultrastructural study of oocyte development. Scientia Marina 60, 391–406.Google Scholar
Griffiths, M.H. (2002) Life history of South African snoek, Thyrsites atun (Pisces, Gempylidae), a pelagic predator of the Benguela ecosystem. Fishery Bulletin 100, 690–710.Google Scholar
Gudger, E.W. (1928) The distribution of Ruvettus, the oil fish, throughout the South Seas, as shown by the distribution of the peculiar wooden hook used in its capture. American Naturalist 62, 467–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudger, E.W. and Mowbray, L.L. (1927) The oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus, at Bermuda. Science 65, 145–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
He, X., Bigelow, K.A. and Boggs, C.H. (1997) Cluster analysis of longline sets and fishing strategies within the Hawaii-based fishery. Fisheries Research 31, 147–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernandez-Garcia, V. (1995) The diet of the swordfish Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758, in the central east Atlantic, with emphasis on the role of cephalopods. Fishery Bulletin 93, 403–411.Google Scholar
Hyslop, E.J. (1980) Stomach contents analysis—a review of methods and their application. Journal of Fish Biology 17, 411–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamler, E. (2005) Parent–egg–progeny relationships in teleost fishes, an energetics perspective. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 15, 399–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klibansky, N. and Juanes, F. (2007) Species-specific effects of four preservative treatments on oocytes and ovarian material of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides). Fishery Bulletin 105, 538–547.Google Scholar
Kolm, N. and Ahnesjo, I. (2005) Do egg size and parental care coevolve in fishes? Journal of Fish Biology 66, 1499–1515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koslow, J.A., Boehlert, G.W., Gordon, J.D.M., Haedrich, R.L., Lorance, P. and Parin, N. (2000) Continental slope and deep-sea fisheries, implications for a fragile ecosystem. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57, 548–557.Google Scholar
Leask, A., Yankos, P. and Ferson, M.J. (2004) Fish, so foul! Foodborne illness caused by combined fish histamine and wax ester poisoning. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 28, 83–85.Google Scholar
Lorenzo, J.M. and Pajuelo, J.G. (1999) Biology of a deep benthopelagic fish, roudi escolar Promethichthys prometheus (Gempylidae), off the Canary islands. Fishery Bulletin 97, 92–99.Google Scholar
Marshall, N.B. (1953) Egg size in Arctic, Antarctic and deep-sea fishes. Evolution 7, 328–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martins, A.S. and Haimovici, M. (2000) Reproduction of the cutlassfish Trichiurus lepturus in the southern Brazil subtropical convergence ecosystem. Scientia Marina 64, 97–105.Google Scholar
Mayer, I., Shackley, S.E. and Ryland, J.S. (1988) Aspects of the reproductive biology of the bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L. I. A histological and histochemical study of oocyte development. Journal of Fish Biology 33, 609–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mejuto, J., García-Cortés, B. and de la Serna, J.M. (2002) Preliminary scientific estimations of by-catches landed by the Spanish surface longline fleet in 1999 in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 54, 1150–1163.Google Scholar
Murua, H. and Saborido-Rey, F. (2003) Female reproductive strategies of marine fish species of the north Atlantic. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 33, 23–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, I. and Parin, N.V. (1993) FAO species catalogue. Volume 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish,cutlassfishes, scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 125, 136 pp.Google Scholar
Nevenzel, J.C. (1970) Occurrence, function and biosynthesis of wax esters in marine organisms. Lipids 5, 308–319.Google Scholar
Nevenzel, J.C., Rodegker, W. and Mead, J.F. (1965) The lipids of Ruvettus pretiosus muscle and liver. Biochemistry 4, 1589–1594.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, P.D., Mooney, B.D. and Elliott, N.G. (2001) Unusually high levels of non-saponifiable lipids in the fishes escolar and rudderfish, identification by gas and thin-layer chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A 936, 183–191.Google Scholar
Nóbrega, R.H., Batlouni, S.R. and Franca, L.R. (2009) An overview of functional and stereological evaluation of spermatogenesis and germ cell transplantation in fish. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 35, 197–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pakhorukov, N.P. and Boltachev, A.R. (2001) On the distribution and behavior of the oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus (Gempylidae) over seamounts. Journal of Ichthyology 41, 755–760.Google Scholar
Peristeraki, P., Kypraios, N., Lazarakis, G. and Tserpes, G. (2007) By-catches and discards of the Greek swordfish fisheries. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 106, 1070–1073.Google Scholar
Peristeraki, P. and Tserpes, G. (2001) Feeding habits of swordfish (Xiphias gladius L., 1758) in the S. Aegean Sea. In Tsimenides, N. (ed.) Proceedings of the 10th Hellenic Congress of Ichthyologists, Chania, 18–20 October 2001, pp. 25–28.Google Scholar
Pieiro, C.G., Casas, M. and Baón, R. (2001) The deep-water fisheries exploited by Spanish fleets in the northeast Atlantic, a review of the current status. Fisheries Research 51, 311–320.Google Scholar
Potier, M., Marsac, F., Cherel, Y., Lucas, V., Sabatié, R., Maury, O. and Ménard, F. (2007) Forage fauna in the diet of three large pelagic fishes (lancetfish, swordfish and yellowfin tuna) in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Fisheries Research 83, 60–72.Google Scholar
Romanov, E.V. (2002) Bycatch in the tuna purse-seine fisheries of the western Indian Ocean. Fishery Bulletin 100, 90–105.Google Scholar
Rowling, K.R. and Reid, D.D. (1992) Effect of temporal changes in size composition on estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters for gemfish, Rexea solandri (Cuvier), Gempylidae. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43, 1229–1239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-Gutierrez, V., Perez-Zarza, M.C., Muriana, F.J.G. and Bravo, L. (1997) Lipid and fatty acid composition of muscle and internal organs from Ruvettus pretiosus. Journal of Fish Biology 50, 1353–1357.Google Scholar
Santos, M.N., Gaspar, M.B., Monteiro, C.C. and Vasconcelos, P. (2002) Gill net and long-line catch comparisons in a hake fishery, the case of southern Portugal. Scientia Marina 66, 433–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawada, Y., Seoka, M., Kato, K., Tamura, T., Nakatani, M., Hayashi, S., Okada, T., Tose, K., Miyashita, S., Murata, O. and Kumai, H. (2007) Testes maturation of reared pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis at two-plus years old. Fisheries Science 73, 1070–1077.Google Scholar
Shcherbachev, Y.N., Parin, N.V., Pakhorukov, N.P. and Piotrovskii, A.S. (1986) Meobenthal and mesobenthopelagic fish of some seamounts in the western tropical part of the Indian ocean. Trudy Instituta Okeanologie Akademia Nauk SSSR 121, 195–214. In Pakhorukov N.P. and Boltachev A.R. (2001). On the distribution and behavior of the oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus (Gempylidae) over seamounts. Journal of Ichthyology 41, 755–760.Google Scholar
Shadbolt, C., Kirk, M. and Roche, P. (2002) Diarrhoea associated with consumption of escolar (rudderfish). Communicable Diseases Intelligence 26, 436–438.Google Scholar
Stobbs, R.E. and Bruton, M.N. (1991) The fishery of the Comoros, with comments on its possible impact on coelacanth survival. Environmental Biology of Fishes 32, 341–359.Google Scholar
Tomkiewicz, J., Tybjerg, L. and Jespersen, A. (2003) Micro- and macroscopic characteristics to stage gonadal maturation of female Baltic cod. Journal of Fish Biology 62, 253–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tserpes, G., Tatamanidis, G. and Peristeraki, P. (2006) Oilfish and shark by-catches of the Greek swordfish fishery in the E. Mediterranean, a preliminary analysis applied to ‘presence–absence’ data. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 59, 987–991.Google Scholar
Vasilakopoulos, P., Tzanatos, E. and Tserpes, G. (2009) Distribution of Ruvettus pretiosus (Cocco 1829) in the eastern Mediterranean. In Proceedings of the 9th Hellenic Symposium for Oceanography and Fisheries, Patras, 13–16 May 2009, pp. 789–794.Google Scholar
West, G. (1990) Methods of assessing ovarian development in fishes, a review. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 41, 199–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamamura, O. (1997) Scavenging on discarded saury by demersal fishes off Sendai Bay, northern Japan. Journal of Fish Biology 50, 919–925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J., Drake, A., Brickhill, M., Farley, J. and Carter, T. (2003) Reproductive dynamics of broadbill swordfish, Xiphias gladius, in the domestic longline fishery off eastern Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 315–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar