Bottom-up control of common octopus Octopus vulgaris in the Galician upwelling system, northeast Atlantic Ocean

This paper investigates the possible underlying causes of the wide interannual fluctuations in catch of the common octopus Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 in one of the main small-scale fisheries off the coast of Galicia (northwest Spain). Galicia is at the northern boundary of the Iberian–Canary curr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Otero, Jaime, Álvarez-Salgado, Xosé Antón, González, Ángel, Miranda, Ana, Groom, S.B., Cabanas-López, José Manuel, Casas-Rodríguez, Gerardo, Wheatley, B., Guerra, A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/323326
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/323326
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Octopus vulgaris · Phytoplankton · Zooplankton · Fisheries · Bottom-up control · Upwelling · NE Atlantic Ocean
Medio Marino
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo
Descripción
Sumario:This paper investigates the possible underlying causes of the wide interannual fluctuations in catch of the common octopus Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 in one of the main small-scale fisheries off the coast of Galicia (northwest Spain). Galicia is at the northern boundary of the Iberian–Canary current upwelling system in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, where local winds induce seasonal upwelling, largely driving the annual cycles of primary and secondary production. We hypothesize that such dynamics are also fundamental for the survival of the planktonic stages of octopus and set the year class strength. We address this hypothesis by investigating the influence of upwelling on time-series of octopus fishery data. Wind stress structure during the spring–summer (prior to the hatching peak) and autumn–winter (during the planktonic stage) was found to affect the early life phase of this species, and explains up to 85% of the total variance of the year-to-year variability of the adult catch. Despite this bottom-up modulation via environmental conditions, our results also provide evidence for a between-cohort density-dependent interaction, probably caused by cannibalism and competition for habitat.