Distribution and size variability of Japanese eel leptocephali in their Pacific Ocean spawning area using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio analyses

Abstract The diets of larval (leptocephali) anguillid and marine eels are poorly understood, despite studies on their gut contents or stable isotope ratios suggesting marine snow particles represent a food source. Concerns for Japanese eel Anguilla japonica stock conservation necessitate an improved knowledge of their larval ecology to better understand the causes of their recent decline in numbers and fluctuating recruitment into East Asia. To understand the distribution of and variation in size of leptocephali in relation to their feeding, we examine carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of larvae from seven research cruises (2002–2013) in the North Equatorial Current spawning area. Preleptocephali (2–3 days old, ~5 mm total length) isotope ratios reflect maternal ratios, but feeding-stage leptocephali (8–56 mm) tend to have higher ∂15N values with decrease of latitude typically in areas south of a salinity front. Neither ∂15N nor ∂13C ratios are clearly related to longitude or larval size < 30 mm, but ∂13C values of larvae > 40 mm are lower further downstream in the North Equatorial Current and Subtropical Countercurrent. Differences in ∂13C values might be a function of varying spatial baselines in the two currents apart from the spawning area. Although among-year larval isotope ratio differences may reflect temporal baseline variation related to the location of the salinity front, more research with much wider range observations in the spawning season is required because ingested marine snow particles might differ with larval growth and location.