Habitat of Argentine squid (Illex argentinus) paralarvae in the southwestern Atlantic

TORRES ALBERTO, ML; SARACENO, M; IVANOVIC, M; ACHA, EM

MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES

INTER-RESEARCH

Año: 2022

0171-8630

Illex argentinus is one of the most important commercial species of Argentina, and sustains one of the most important cephalopod fisheries worldwide. Catches, and presumably populational abundances, show strong interannual fluctuations, probably forced by processes occurring during the early life history. Notwithstanding its importance, knowledge on paralarvae ecology and the environmental effects on larval survival are fragmentary and limited. In this work we describe the habitat of the paralarvae caught in four research cruises, taking into account information on seasonal transport of the currents, chlorophyll-a concentration, characteristics of the water masses and water column structure. Paralarvae habitat is environmentally complex. They occur in the plankton, in a moment when the biological production cycle in the area is relatively low, but when offshore transport is at a minimum, decreasing in this way the chances for the paralarvae to be exported to unsuitable places for survival. We discuss how the synchronization of the reproductive cycle of the squid relates with those environmental events and could improve the paralarvae survival and recruitment.