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Fujioka K, Sasagawa K, Kuwahara T, Estess EE, Takahara Y, Komeyama K, Kitagawa T, Farwell CJ, Furukawa S, Kinoshita J, Fukuda H, Kato M, Aoki A, Abe O, Ohshimo S, Suzuki N
Habitat use of adult Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis during the spawning season in the Sea of Japan: evidence for a trade-off between thermal preference and reproductive activity
It has long been understood that the Sea of Japan is an important spawning habitat for Pacific bluefin tuna. However, prior to this study most knowledge was gained from commercial fisheries catch data. Over the course of 5 years we attached electronic biologging devices to large bluefin tuna in the Sea of Japan in order to obtain a fisheries-independent picture of their life history. Working collaboratively with a team of Japanese and American scientists and artisanal-scale fishermen, we retrieved a long tracking record of Pacific bluefin tuna in the spawning grounds of the Sea of Japan, providing us with the first high-resolution view into the movement, behavior, and physiological response of a Pacific bluefin tuna on its spawning grounds.