NAOSITE: Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE

Title

High Incidence of Aggregations of the Bigeyes, Priacanthus tayenus and P.

macracanthus in the South China Sea

Author(s)

Senta, Tetsushi

Citation

, v.45, pp.1-4; 1978

Issue Date

1978-08

URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10069/30668

Right
This document is downloaded at: 2016-07-30T02:57:51Z

http://naosite.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp

Bull. Fac. Fish. Nagasaki Univ., No. 45, 1

High

Incidence

tayenus

and

4 (1978)

of Aggregations

of the

P. macracanthus

in the

Tetsushi

Unlike

other

sometimes

members

occur

priacanthids,

Caldwell
instance

Bullis

of a large

nile Priacanthus

waters

attracted

together

light

in the West Indies.

according

to them, had

aggregations

of

any

age

in

any

are

and
Among

sea

second

fishes

and

suggesting

well

as

aggregation

in

trawl
1977),

Tan

and

Lim,

of P. tayenus and/or

that

aggregations.
an observation

in a single

they

somtimes

Such instances
made

on the

of young P. macracanthus attrac-

ted to the light in Panay

are presented

P. mac-

(Senta,

P. macracanthus are often caught

occur in large

them,

place in the catch

(Senta,

1977). A large number

adjacent

dominant

of the

ranking

are known

Richardson

Cuvier
grounds

Sea

1974).

tayenus

trawl haul,

grounds

of

any

tayenus
in the

Sea

and P. macracanthus

South

China

Sea. Large

were also encountered

in early and young
species

of

Catch

of Bigeyes

The research

the

family

in Panay
stages of
also

react

in this report.

by Trawl

Fisheries

vessel Changi of the Marine

Research

Asian Fisheries

Gulf, Philippines

Department,

Development

pore, had carried

out
fishing
in the South

Southeast

Center, Singa-

exploratory
China
Sea

trawl
since

January,
1970. A total of 654 hauls
made in the fishing grounds along the
coast of Malay

China

(Eggleston,

of demersal

as

of any

or

of priacanthids

South

racanthus
fishing

adults

circumstance.

Priacanthus

China

of prejuve-

5000 individuals,

fish

the

Priacanthus

fishing

an

consisting

of large

Eight species
from

if

reported

aggregation

records,

known

ecological

known

Cuvier,

to an underwater

priacanthid

is not

(1971)

arenatus

of an estimated

been

it

South

SENTA

Priacanthidae,
in trawl

Priacanthus

to light.

and

No previous

family

aggregations

Bigeyes,

young
P. macracanthus
attracted
to light
Positive phototaxis
seems to be common

while

positively

of the

in large

aggregations
of
Gulf, Philippines.

coast

of

Peninsula

Borneo

during

1970 to 1973 (Anon.,

was
east

and off the north

the

period

1975; Senta,

from

Tan and

Lim, 1977). The trawl net was four-seamed,

with

head

towed

rope

at an

Towing
hours

length

average

of 36 m, and was
speed

of 3 . 5 knots.

time varied from half an hour to 2

according

bottom

to

topography,

conditions
and

of

so on. The

catch,
catch

per hour of bigeyes was calculated

from
the operation and catch records
of R/V
Changi.
In 29 hauls out of 654, more than 100 kg
per

hour

positions
occurred

of bigeyes

were

caught

at the

illustrated in Fig. 1. These hauls

almost in any month. Usually P.

tayenus accounted
dual number

for about 90 % in indivi-

of bigeyes and P. macracanthus

2TSentaAggregationofBigeyes
10inwatersofftheeastcoastofMalay

groundwasabout7seamilesoffthesouth

Peninsulawhileinfishinggroundsoffthe

coastofPanaylslandFig1thedepth

northcoastofBorneotheformeraccounted

beingabout150m

forabout57andthelatter42Senta

Theboatwasanchoredatthefishing

1977

groundandsix500wlampstwointhe

Threebestcatcheswere3668kgper

waterandfourintheairwerelitatthe

houractualcatchwas379kgby62minutes

bowAfterrepeatingtestanglingsiwithline

towing3580kgh364kg61minand

andjigstoascertainwhetherfishhad

3169kgh206kg39minFromthe

gatheredunderthelampsthefishermen

totalweightandindividualnumberofbig

operatedtwicethatnightonceat2300hour

eyesmeasuredSenta1977itisobserved

andanotherat0400hournextmorning

thatthebodyweightofthefishintrawl

Accordingtothemasterfishermanthey

catchaveraged125gUsuallyanumberof

usuallyoperateseveraltimesanightand

fishesinthepathofthetrawlescapeover

oncetheyhadoperatedasmanyas19times

orroundthenetAssumingthisratioas50

anightArectangularnet216342m

Tiews1969morethan5000individuals

wasspreadundertheboat40mbelowthe

ofbigeyeswereinthepathofthetrawl

watersurfaceandoneoftheunderwater

ineachoftheabovementionedthree

lampswasslowlymovedbackwardwith

catches

theothersturnedoffsothatthefish

Thesweepingareaofonehourtowof

whichhadgatheredwouldmovetoabove

thetrawlwasaboutO23km236m35

thenet

knots1hrlf5000fishweredistributed

Thefitstoperationyielded105kgof

evenlyinthepaththedensitywouldbe

fishwhichwasalMostexclusivelycompo

onefishper64m2andwewouldconclude

sedofPmacracanthusofabout10cmin

thattheyareeithersolitaryoratmostin

standardlengthThecatchofthesecond

looseaggregationsActuallytheirdistribu

operationconsistedof280kgofmoonfish

tionisextremelycontagiousasevidenced

lt4enemaculataBlochandSchneiderand

bythefluctuationinthecatchofconsecu

70kgofPmacracanthusofthesamesize

tivehaulsoperatedatthesameplace

asthefirstbatchAsthebodyweightof

Anon1967Saishu1972Suzuki1977a

thefishof10cminstandardlengthis

and1977bltseemstobemorereasonable

about35gNhon1972thecathof105kg

tointerepretethatthefishweremoreor

and70kgfishconsistedofabout3000and

lessinlargeaggregationswhenmorethan

2000individualsrespectivelyThiswasnot

100kgofthefishwascaughtbyasingle

anunusualincidentforthebasnigfisher

haul

YoungBigeyesAttractedtotheLight

men

About100Pmacracanthuswerebrought
backtothelaboratoryforthestudyof
fooditemsAllthefishhadtakenplankton

FromtheeveningofMarch61975tothe

followingmorningtheauthoraccompanied
Philippipefishermenaboardafishingboat
inPanayGulftoobservehowtheyoperate
abasnigakindofliftnetThefishing

iccrustaceaespeciallymysids

BullFacFishNagasakiUnivNo451978

O100200kghr

200300

300400

K1

1
15

ir

South ChinaSea
o

50N

N
loooENStsiLeloso

tlJetl

Gutf

b
200m

200m
l

oX

NX
s

Borneo

1100

11so

o
b

Fig1Chartshowingthepositionswheremorethan100kgperhourofbigeyeswere
caughtbyasinglehauloftrawlThecrossinPanayGulfshowstheplacewherethe
operationofbasningwasobserved

DiscussionandConclusien

planktoniccrustaceaunderthelamps
PrejuvenilesofParenatuswasreportedto

Fromtheforegoingobservationsitis

crowdanunderwaterlightintheWest

evidentthatthetwospeciesofbigeyes

IndiesCaldwellandBullis1971Thusit

PriacanthustayenusandPmacracanthusin

appearsthatpositivephototaxisiscommon

theSouthChinaSeasometimesformlarge

inearlyandyoungstagesofpriacanthid

aggregationsandinthisrespecttheyare

fishesltishowevernotknownifadult

peculiarfromothermembersofthefamily

fishofanyspeciesofbigeyesalsoreact

Priacanthidaewhicharereportedtooccur

positivelytolightandfloatuptotheupper

eithersolitaryorinsmalllooseaggrega

layeroftheseainlargeaggregations

tionsThispeculiaritycanbeattibutedat

leasttosomeextenttothefactthatthe

Acknowledgements

populationdensityoftheabovenamedtwo
speciesintheSouthChinaSeaismuch

TheauthorexpresseshisgratitudetoMr

higherthananyotherpriacanthidsinhabit

TanSenMinandotherresearchstaffof

ingtheSouthChinaSeaaswellasany

MarineFisheriesResearchDepartment

otherseasNootherpriacanthidspeciesare

SEAFDECandthestaffofRVChangi

reportedtobecaughtinsuchlargea

fortheirassistanceandkindcooperation

quantity

ThanksareduetoDrYoshieDotsuand

LargeaggregationsofyoungPmacracan

DrToruTakitaofNagasakiUniversity

thusattractedtolightwereencounteredin

andDrHiralalChaudhuriRegionalAqua

PanayGulfTheywereactivelyfeedingon

cultureCoordinatorSEAFDECfortheir

T. Senta:

critical

going

through

the

Aggregation

of Bigeyes

SEAFDEC,

manuscript.

Working

Papers of Trainees,

1972,

94-110.
Literature

Saishu, K.

Cited

(ed.)

(1972). Report

of Kaiyo-maru

survey cruise to off New Zealand, 1970. Fishery

Agency, Japan. xvi + 292 pp. (in Japanese)

Anon. (1967). Results of the joint Thai-MalaysianGerman

the

trawling

Malay

Laboratory,
Institute,

survey

Senta, T. (1977). Species and size composition

off the east coast of

Peninsula,

1967.

Thailand

and

Marine

Fisheries

Fisheries

Research

priacanthid fishes in the South China Sea and

adjacent waters. This Bull. (42), 25-31.
Senta, T., S.M. Tan and P.Y. Lim. (1977). Results

Malaysia. iii + 64 pp.

Anon. (1975). Fisheries

Fisheries

Research

Resources Section. Marine

of the experimental

Department,

China Sea by R/V Changi in the years 1970 to

SEAFDEC,

Annual Report 1973, 14-22.

Caldwell,

D.K. and H.R.

unusually
bigeyes,

large

Bullis, Jr. (1971). An

aggregation

Priacanthus

of

arenatus,

West

Seminar on South China Sea

Fish.

Bangkok,

Identification

Sheets

for

Purpose.

Eastern

Ocean

(Fishing

Area

Central Pacific

(Fishing

Area

Suzuki, 0.

Fishery

snappers

length-weight

The

and

German

of commercial

de-

Federal

relationship

school

and

snappers

fisheries

size composition

mersal fishes in the South

(1977). Fish

May

1973,

method

bigeye

structure

Tiews, K. (ed.) (1969). Possibilities

of

(1972).

21-25

for

of red

in the

South

China Sea. ibid., 46-49.

71).
N.T.

Resources,

evaluation of trawl fishing ground. ibid., 44-45.

6 pp. In FAO

Species

Nhon,

South

1972. Proc. Tech.

Suzuki, 0. (1977). A rational survey

Indies. Copeia, 1971 (1), 176.

Indian

trawl fishing in the

52-63.

pre juvenile

in the

Eggleston, D. (1974). Priacanthidae.

57) and Western

of

China Sea. MFRD

development

Federation

and problems

in Southeast

for Developing

Research Board for Fisheries

Westkreuz--Druckerei,

Asia.

Countries,
and FAO.

Berlin, 386 pp.

1 100 , 300
,
2

, 2

,
150m

,2,0003,000

Priacanthus arenatus
,