Identification of Three Common Loliginidae Squid Species in the South China Sea by Analyzing Hard Tissues with Geometric Outline Method

The hard tissues of squid can provide important information for species identification. In this study, we used statolith and beak to identify three squid species including Uroteuthis duvaucelii, Loliolus beka, and U. edulis in the South China Sea. Because of the highly overlapping habitat and similar body morphology of the three squid species, we explored four different ways to identify them, by using statolith, upper beak, lower beak and a combination of statolith and beak. An outline geometric morphometric method and stepwise discriminant analysis were used to evaluate the most suitable method for the identification. We found that the combination of statolith and beak had the highest cross validation rate that was 75.0%, 87.5% and 88.7% for U. duvaucelii, L. beka and U. edulis, respectively. Using two beaks had similar results and the lowest cross validation rate was 60.0%, 50.0%, and 73.7% for the upper beak, 46.9%, 58.5% and 75.3% for the lower beak of U. duvaucelii, L. beka and U. edulis, respectively. Analyzing with the statolith had moderate cross validation which was 72.2%, 80.0%, and 87.7% for U. duvaucelii, L. beka and U. edulis, respectively. From the results it is suggested when the entire body of a squid is available, a combination of statolith and beak should be used for the identification. When only one hard tissue is available, species identification can be subjected to large errors.

Using Bayesian Bio-economic model to evaluate the management strategies of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The neon flying squid(Ommastrephes bartramii)in the Northwest Pacific Ocean is one economically important cephalopod,largely exploited by squid jigging fleets from Chinese Mainland,Japan,and Chinese Taibei.In this study,a Bayesian Bio-economic model was developed using fishery data from Chinese Mainland,Japan,and Chinese Taibei,and relevant fishery economic data from Chinese Mainland.The stock assessment and risk analysis of alternative management strategies for O.bartramii were carried out.Three prior distributions(i.e.,uniform,normal and logarithmic normal)for model parameters were assumed in different scenarios.The results showed that the estimated model parameters and reference points such as maximum sustainable yield(MSY),maximum economic yield(MEY),bio-economic balance point(BE)and fishing mortality were similar in the scenarios of normal and logarithmic normal prior assumptions.However,the estimates were larger in the scenario of uniform prior assumption.The fishing mortalities and annual catches from 1996 to 2008 were lower than the reference points F_(0.1) and MSY in all the three scenarios,indicating that O.bartramii stock is at sustainable exploited level.The results of decision analysis indicated that under the same harvest rate,the catch and biomass in 2023 from the uniform assumption were the highest.However,the highest probability of the collapse was found for squid resources after 2023.Our findings suggested that the harvest rate of 0.4 appeared to be the best management regulation under the uniform assumption,and the MSY would be 200 thousand tons.In addition,the harvest rate of 0.5 would be the best management regulation under the other two assumptions,and the MSY would be 180 thousand tons,which balanced the desire for high yields and the healthy population.The results of this study could be used to provide management suggestions for neon flying squid in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.