Immigration of Conger myriaster leptocephalus larvae in Suruga Bay,Central Japan from 1994 to 1995

Journal of The School of Marine Science and Technology,Vol.4 No.3

Immigration of Conger myriaster leptocephalus larvae in Suruga Bay,
Central Japan from 1994 to 1995

Noritaka MOCHIOKA, Seiko SHIOZAWA, Miki NAGASAKA and Tadashi KUBOTA

	Abstract

	This paper deals with the immigration of Conger myriaster leptocephalus larvae collected incidentally by boat seine nets fishing for shirasu (post larval stage of sardine or anchovy) from 1994 to 1995 in Suruga Bay, central Japan. A total of5,905Conger myriaster leptocephali were collected around Miho Key in Suruga Bay.The immigration season of larvae is from February to May, with the peak in March and April, when sea surface temperatures are 15～19℃.Both relatively small larvae less than 95mm TL and larvae before metamorphosis were collected throughout the immigration season.In 1994and 1995,the total length distribution of leptocephalus larvae was multi-modal. This suggests the immigration of the larvae is not continuous,but intermittent.Immigration groups were separated and growth trajectory can be determined by the total length distribution data．Mean growth rate of the larvae was approximately 0.7mm (0.70～0.71mm)per day in Suruga Bay.