Near-global spawning strategies of large pelagic fish

Kristine Camille V. Buenafe (), Sandra Neubert, Kylie L. Scales, Daniel C. Dunn, Jason D. Everett, Jason Flower, Iain M. Suthers, Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff, Alvise Dabalà, Kris Jypson T. Esturas, James Mercer and Anthony J. Richardson
Additional contact information
Kristine Camille V. Buenafe: The University of Queensland
Sandra Neubert: The University of Queensland
Kylie L. Scales: University of the Sunshine Coast
Daniel C. Dunn: The University of Queensland
Jason D. Everett: The University of Queensland
Jason Flower: University of California
Iain M. Suthers: The University of New South Wales
Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff: Waitt Institute
Alvise Dabalà: The University of Queensland
Kris Jypson T. Esturas: The University of Queensland
James Mercer: The University of New South Wales
Anthony J. Richardson: The University of Queensland

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Understanding the spawning strategies of large pelagic fish could provide insights into their underlying evolutionary drivers, but large-scale information on spawning remains limited. Here we leverage a near-global larval dataset of 15 large pelagic fish taxa to develop habitat suitability models and use these as a proxy for spawning grounds. Our analysis reveals considerable consistency in spawning in time and space, with 10 taxa spawning in spring/summer and 9 taxa spawning off Northwest Australia. Considering the vast ocean expanse available for spawning, these results suggest that the evolutionary benefits of co-locating spawning in terms of advantageous larval conditions outweigh the benefits of segregated spawning in terms of reduced competition and lower larval predation. Further, tropical species spawn over broad areas throughout the year, whereas more subtropical and temperate species spawn in more restricted areas and seasons. These insights into the spawning strategies of large pelagic fish could inform marine management, including through fisheries measures to protect spawners and through the placement of marine protected areas.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63106-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-63106-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63106-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().