Wahoo Movements and Physiology

The wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) is a circum-global, tropical and subtropical species that supports a large commercial and recreational fishery worldwide. Despite its economic importance, few studies have focused on the wahoo, and there is little information on how the wahoo partitions and utilizes the pelagic water column.

Movement Patterns

This will be the first study to examine the movements of wahoo using electronic tags in the Eastern Pacific.  The coupling of satellite and archival technologies will provide a comprehensive analysis of wahoo movements and provide fisheries managers with the first movement data for this species.  The proposed work will answer important questions related to both the ecology and vulnerability of this species in the eastern Pacific. 

Archival data logging transmitters will be used to assess how the wahoo utilizes the water column and will answer questions related to the daily depth distribution of this species. 

Wahoo physiology

Although the wahoo is commercially and recreationally fished worldwide, many aspects of its biology are poorly known.  From a biological perspective, in many ways the wahoo represents a functional intermediate between the tunas and the billfishes and offers an ideal system for investigation.  Further, because the wahoo is so morphologically distinct from the other members of the tuna family Scombridae, physiological studies that compare the wahoo to tunas and billfish may provide insight into the evolution of this derived group of fishes

Gill specializations

Collaborative studies with researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are focused on respiratory physiology of the wahoo.  The gills are the primary sites of oxygen uptake for pelagic fishes.  Gill structure has been shown to vary among species in terms of surface area, thickness, and orientation to water-flow (fusion), with fast moving, high-oxygen-demand fishes like tunas and marlins having the most specialized respiratory surfaces.  We will document the degree to which the wahoo gills are specialized for high cardiovascular performance