The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the Alboran Sea is known to feed on the catch retained in gillnets and also in small pelagic purse seines. At the same time an invasive alga, Rugulopteris okamurae, has recently appeared in Alboran, which is occupying the entire coastline and clogging the fishing gear. We do not know how the presence of the algae will affect the abundance and distribution of the dolphins, nor do we know whether the bottlenose dolphins left the waters of Alboran or suffered feeding problems as the fishing nets were less accessible.
Is there any other marine area where something similar is happening? Are there any areas where the appearance of invasive algae has negatively affected dolphin populations?
All increaing in number like blooming of algae which led to negative effect on there ecosystem and later on other living organsims
Conference Paper EXPANSION OF THE EXOTIC BROWN ALGAE RUGULOPTERYX OKAMURAE (E...
The above was a conf paper from Spain on this matter,
Although its again another Asian species, not much was done about it here, as it is not represent an issue like in the West Med.
This page have more info on the species, https://www.algaebase.org/search/species/detail/?tc=accept&species_id=Tbe5484c5cd8b2be3
Dear @ Koen, thank you very much for your comment. The situation in Alboran concerning Tursiops is that this specie predates on fish captured mainly in two types of fisheries, small pelagic purse seiners and artisanal nets, trammel nets mainly. The abundance of preys in Alboran is not a problem in my opinion, but probably the easy access of Tursiop feeding on animals alive but captured in some gear. Dolphins predating on net-associated fish not reflect the low abundance of prey fishes due to excessive human exploitation in my understanding. Preys are abundant in the area and as an example, bluefin tuna abundance in western Mediterranean after the implementation of a recovery management plan by ICCAT members is as important that last year some countries captured the annual quota in a couple of days!. Probably competence with large species as bluefin and other cetaceans is a question to be investigated.
Anyway, Rugulopterix invasion is very new and, although some studies have been done to take some commercial advantage of the abundance there are not industrial applications by now.
Dear Abdulmaula Hamza, dear friend,
Thank you for sharing the information you has on Rugulopterix. I'm in contact with the colleagues at the University of Sevilla and Malaga working with the species. But the question I have is how the expansion of this invasive algae is affecting the cetaceans populations there because at least Tursiops truncatus feed on the captures of trammel nets in Alboran Sea and currently the number of fishing days reduced and so food availability to bottlenose dolphin. I know dolphin have different feeding strategies, but particularly the interactions with fisheries, artisanal, bottom trawl and purse seiners in Alboran, are an important source of food. Happy to contact you!
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Climate Science
- Climate Change