Role of current and daylight variations on small-pelagic fish aggregations around a coastal FAD from accurate acoustic tracking

We monitored twelve acoustically-tagged small pelagic fish (Selar crumenophthalmus) around a floating object in shallow water, playing the role of a coastal fish aggregating device (FAD). We characterized the response of the tagged-fish aggregation to varying current strengths and daylight. We found that the current induced a displacement of the aggregation upstream of the FAD, at distances that were increasing with the current strength. We gave evidence, of an expansion and a higher coordination in the aggregation at dusk, with increasing swimming speed, distances among congeners and alignment. We discussed possible scenarios where fish polarization increases at dusk and proposed complementary measurements in future experiments that could confirm our findings.

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