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Using age-based life history data to investigate the life cycle and vulnerability of Octopus cyanea
Citation
Herwig, JN and Depczynski, M and Roberts, JD and Semmens, JM and Gagliano, M and Heywood, AJ, Using age-based life history data to investigate the life cycle and vulnerability of Octopus cyanea, PLoS One, 7, (8) Article e43679. ISSN 1932-6203 (2012) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043679
Abstract
Octopus cyanea<,i> is taken as an unregulated, recreationally fished species from the intertidal reefs of Ningaloo, Western
Australia. Yet despite its exploitation and importance in many artisanal fisheries throughout the world, little is known about
its life history, ecology and vulnerability. We used stylet increment analysis to age a wild O. cyanea population for the first
time and gonad histology to examine their reproductive characteristics. O. cyanea conforms to many cephalopod life history
generalisations having rapid, non-asymptotic growth, a short life-span and high levels of mortality. Males were found to
mature at much younger ages and sizes than females with reproductive activity concentrated in the spring and summer
months. The female dominated sex-ratios in association with female brooding behaviours also suggest that larger
conspicuous females may be more prone to capture and suggests that this intertidal octopus population has the potential
to be negatively impacted in an unregulated fishery. Size at age and maturity comparisons between our temperate
bordering population and lower latitude Tanzanian and Hawaiian populations indicated stark differences in growth rates
that correlate with water temperatures. The variability in life history traits between global populations suggests that
management of O. cyanea populations should be tailored to each unique set of life history characteristics and that stylet
increment analysis may provide the integrity needed to accurately assess this.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Fisheries sciences |
| Research Field: | Fisheries management |
| Objective Division: | Animal Production and Animal Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Fisheries - wild caught |
| Objective Field: | Fisheries - recreational freshwater |
| UTAS Author: | Semmens, JM (Professor Jayson Semmens) |
| ID Code: | 81837 |
| Year Published: | 2012 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 18 |
| Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
| Deposited On: | 2013-01-09 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-12-18 |
| Downloads: | 458 View Download Statistics |
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