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Interpreting nitrogen stable isotopes in the study of migratory fishes in marine ecosystems

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Abstract

Stable isotopes have proven effective in the ecological study of terrestrial, freshwater, marine and estuarine systems. However, their utility in the study of large migratory fishes in the dynamic ocean may be more difficult to ascertain. Migration across large areas of ocean in short periods of time may result in a large amount of variability in the nitrogen ratios of large pelagic fishes. High variability was found in nitrogen ratios (δ15N) used to quantify trophic positions of large pelagic fish species and their prey in the southern Gulf of California. Mean δ15N values for eleven large pelagic predators ranged from 14.8 ‰ for blue marlin to 18.7 ‰ for amberjack. Predators typically present in the Gulf during winter months had a higher mean value (18.5 ± 0.7 ‰) than summer predators (15.8 ± 1.5 ‰). Common prey items, including cephalopods, fish and crustaceans, had mean δ15N values ranging from 12.2 to 19.1 ‰ (epipelagic fishes = 17.5 ± 0.7 ‰, cephalopods = 15.6 ± 0.9 ‰, inshore fishes = 14.2 ± 1.6 ‰, crustaceans = 12.2 ± 0.4 ‰), in many cases exceeding their predators by more than one full trophic level. We analyzed potential sources of this variability by examining diets, oceanographic conditions and fish migration. Diet shifts with size do not account for the variability, but the likely source appears to be slow turnover rate of body tissues of migratory pelagic fish as they traverse both highly productive and oligotrophic water masses in the eastern Pacific Ocean. From this study, we advise caution when interpreting results of stable isotope ratios in migratory pelagic fishes, and suggest designing studies that account for sources of variability.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Galván, Sofia Ortega and their students CICIMAR-IPN in La Paz, Mexico, for help in sample collection. Chris Moyers and “Chuey” from the East Cape Smokehouse were an invaluable part of the sampling efforts, as were Juan Carlos Perez, Juan Fuentes, and the team at Iemanya Oceanica. I want to acknowledge the financial support of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship as well as the UC Pacific Rim Research Program, UC MEXUS, and the David and Lucille Packard for research funding. Also much thanks to Sora Kim for reading and comments on an early form of this manuscript.

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  1. University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    John E. Richert & A. Peter Klimley

  2. Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Institutio Plitecnico Nacional (CICIMAR), La Paz, Mexico

    Felipe Galván-Magaña

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  1. John E. Richert
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  2. Felipe Galván-Magaña
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Communicated by C. Harrod.

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Richert, J.E., Galván-Magaña, F. & Klimley, A.P. Interpreting nitrogen stable isotopes in the study of migratory fishes in marine ecosystems. Mar Biol 162, 1099–1110 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2652-6

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