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Newcomers in the Baltic Sea: an attempt to trace the origins and whereabouts of thicklip grey mullet Chelon labrosus

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Abstract

In recent years, thicklip grey mullet Chelon labrosus has shown increasing expansion of its native habitats in the north-eastern Atlantic into northerly adjacent areas including the North Sea and the brackish Baltic Sea. Despite the regular annual and seasonal occurrence of C. labrosus in the western Baltic during the warm months, nothing is known of the origin or whereabouts of the mullet during the cold season. As different possible migration scenarios can be considered, we performed otolith microchemistry analyses on specimens from the western Baltic Sea to identify the origin of this nonindigenous species. Comparison with North Sea samples revealed common habitat preferences and underlined the highly euryhaline nature of C. labrosus in different recently occupied habitats. Occasional fluctuations of Sr/Ca ratio along the growth axis suggest periodical migration between waters of different salinities but did not reveal distinct migration pathways.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank an anonymous fly fisher who donated his catch to us and also the fishermen A. Kadell, H.W. Kruse, and H. Meier for the samples from the Baltic and J. Orth for the North Sea individuals. Thanks also go to C. Clemmesen (IFM-GEOMAR) for providing the authors with weekly hydrographic time series data. E. Prigge and A. Frommel assisted during dissections and otolith preparations. A. Klügel and H. Anders from Bremen University are acknowledged for the optimal logistics and excellent conditions found during use of the LA-ICPMS, and we thank M. Thöner (IFM-GEOMAR) for his kind support during the use of the EMPA. Additional thanks go to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sea Fisheries, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Palmaille 9, 22767, Hamburg, Germany

    Matthias Schaber

  2. Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Lasse Marohn, Christoph Petereit & Jan P. Schroeder

  3. Gesellschaft für Marine Aquakultur mbH, Hafentörn 3, 25761, Büsum, Germany

    Jan P. Schroeder

  4. Berufsbildungszentrum am Nord-Ostseekanal, Fischereischule, Am Kamp 13, 24768, Rendsburg, Germany

    Karsten Zumholz

  5. Institute for Fisheries Ecology, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Palmaille 9, 22767, Hamburg, Germany

    Reinhold Hanel

Authors
  1. Matthias Schaber
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  2. Lasse Marohn
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  3. Christoph Petereit
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Correspondence to Matthias Schaber.

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Schaber, M., Marohn, L., Petereit, C. et al. Newcomers in the Baltic Sea: an attempt to trace the origins and whereabouts of thicklip grey mullet Chelon labrosus . Fish Sci 77, 757–764 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-011-0384-1

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