<Review>Behavior of chum salmon as revealed by micro data loggers off the Sanriku coast, Japan: A review

概要

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The homing season of chum salmon in the Sanriku coastal area is generally late September to January. The surface water temperature is 20℃ at the beginning of the season and decreases to 12℃ at the end. This temperature condition is very tough for the homing migration of chum salmon, since they are typical cold-water species. How do they behave in the waters where temperatures can be close to their upper lethal limit? We monitored swimming behavior of salmon using micro data-loggers to study the relationship between homing behavior and ambient temperature. Seasonal changes in seawater temperature transformed the salmon behavior from deep diving to surface swimming. The deep diving is a type of behavioral thermoregulation in thermally stratified water with high surface temperature, whereas surface swimming helps the salmon to locate their natal rivers. Sexual maturation induced the salmon to seek their natal river in the surface water, even if their temperature was high. An analysis of the vertical movements of the salmon indicated that salmon are negatively buoyant throughout the dive, and thus, the energy cost for deep diving cannot be negligible. Our data indicate the high behavioral adaptability of salmon to such thermally stratified water with high surface temperature.
東京大学の論文
2003-03-28