The commercially important Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ), a large migratory fish, has experienced notable recovery aided by accurate resource assessment and effective fisheries management efforts. Traditionally, this species has been perceived as consisting of eastern and western populations, spawning respectively in the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, with mixing occurring throughout the Atlantic. Howeve...

An oceanographic survey was carried out during the summer of 2009, from June 25 to July 3 in the Gulf of Gabes. The study area is characterized by a wide continental shelf.A plankton sampling scheme was carried out to study the structure of the larval fish assemblages that characterizes the surface mixed layer, and to assess the influence of the environmental parameters on their spatial distribution.A total of 36 taxa were ide...

In the western Mediterranean Sea, the RADMED monitoring programme is already conducting several of the evaluations required under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD) along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The different aspects of the ecosystem that are regularly sampled under this monitoring programme are the physical environment and the chemical and biological variables of the water column, together with the plankt...

Daily growth variability of bluefin ( Thunnus thynnus ) larvae sampled in their Balearic Sea spawning grounds during the 2003–2005 spawning seasons was examined. Multi‐factorial ANOVA was applied to study the effects of environmental variables, such as temperature at 10 m depth (T10), microzooplankton dry weight ( MDW ) and protein/dry weight ratio ( PROT / MDW ) on larval growth. The 2003 bluefin tuna ( BFT ) larval cohort sh...

Spatial distribution and ecology of the larvae of three tuna species (Thunnus thynnus, Auxis rochei and Euthynnus alletteratus) were studied during an ichthyoplankton survey carried out in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia) in June and July 2009. A total of 80 stations, distributed on a regular sampling grid, were sampled. The main objectives of this survey were to provide information on tuna larvae distribution in the Gulf of Gabes...

The Mediterranean Sea is one of the world’s hotspots for marine bio-invasions. Most invasions are first documented based on an initial record of occasional adult captures. However, reports of larval stages could indicate that there is an adult population that is reproducing and therefore well established in the area. The spread of the oriental shrimp, Palaemon macrodactylus, from its native estuarine waters of southeast Asia t...

Feeding intensity, diet composition, selectivity, energy ingestion and dietary niche breadth of larval Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus were studied on the eastern (Mediterranean) spawning grounds of the species. Larval T. thynnus were collected in the Balearic Archipelago (north‐west Mediterranean Sea) during 2004 and 2005 using surveys specific for larval scombrids. Larvae between 2·6 and 8·7 mm standard length ( L S )...

An ichthyoplankton survey was conducted at the periphery of Cabrera National Park (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean Sea) in July 2004, using bongo nets, fixed nets and collection of oceanographic data. This work focused on analysing the distribution of eggs and larval stages of some fishery‐targeted taxa ( Coris julis, Epinephelus spp. , Sciaena umbra and Scorpaena sp.) whose adult abundances and/or biomass are higher i...