Stranding of Mesopelagic Fishes in the Canary Islands

Special issue Trophic Web and Predator–Prey Dynamics in Marine Environment.-- 13 pages, 6 figures.-- Data Availability Statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article are publicly available through AFORO website (http://aforo.cmima.csic.es/ (accessed on 12 August 2022)) and PANGEA platform: Sarmiento-Lezcano, Airam Nauzet; Couret, María; Lombarte, Antoni; Olivar, M Pilar; Landeira, José María; Hernández-León, Santiago; Tuset, Victor M (2022): Otolith morphological measures of stranding mesopelagic fishes in the Canary Islands during June 2021. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.951480 (accessed on 12 August 2022)Most mesopelagic fishes perform large diel vertical migrations from the deep-sea zone to the surface. Although there is a trade-off between a higher food availability at the upper layers and an energy cost and predation risk, incursion towards the surface also implies a transport by currents, where the fish are exposed to a stranding risk on the coast. Here, we reported the first documented stranding of mesopelagic fishes along the southeast shore of Gran Canaria Island. Our study hypothesized that (1) the influence of the Canary Current, (2) the dominant incidence of the Trade Winds during summer, and (3) the presence of an upwelling filament coupled with an anticyclonic eddy south of Gran Canaria Island were the causative mechanisms of the strandings. Diaphus dumerilii (Myctophidae family) was the main species found as observed from an external morphological analysis using traditional taxonomy. The otolith contour analysis suggested the presence of other Diaphus spp. and Lobianchia dofleini. Nevertheless, the otolith morphological features described in the literature suggested that all the specimens were actually D. dumerelii. Errors in the identification were mainly due to the high intraspecific variability found in the otolith morphology. Even so, two patterns of oval and elliptic shapes were described with significant differences in its morphometryThis research was funded by the Spanish Government through the Project Desafío (PID2020-118118RB-I00). Additional funding for this research came from the European Union (Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme) through the projects SUMMER (Grant Agreement 817806) and TRIATLAS (Grant Agreement 817578). Airam Sarmiento was supported by a postgraduate grant (BES-2017-082540) and José M Landeira by the “Beatriz Galindo” grant (BEAGAL 18/00172) both from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. María Couret was supported by a postgraduate grant (TESIS2022010116) from the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI)With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe