NOAA Fisheries and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council – in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic and the New England Fishery Management Councils – manage the US Atlantic wahoo fishery under the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Behavioral information may also help increase fishing gear specificity and alter catch compositions. The combination of high site-specific recapture rates and seasonal site preferences suggest that wahoo may be vulnerable to commercial and recreational operations, especially those that repeatedly target the same location and time period. This research broadens scientists’ understandings of pelagic ecosystems, and suggests potential interactions of wahoo with other pelagic fish, many of which are commercially important. They found that depth varied between day and night for each fish however, a majority of them made regular dives to depths greater than 656 feet (200 meters). mplement observer programs and studies of post-release mortality to examine the efficacy of minimum size requirementsĪs of yet it is unclear whether any there are any research programs underway to address these deficits.Ī 2012 study done by scientists at Florida Atlantic University, and a 2010 collaborative study by scientists at the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas-IPN looked at wahoo movements and depth and temperature distributions.Collect data to improve estimates of life history characteristics like growth and fecundity.The Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Management Plan identifies several knowledge deficits regarding the biology and stock status of mahi-mahi and wahoo in the Atlantic exclusive economic zone and makes the following recommendations for future research: This research would ultimately inform ecosystem models and facilitate ecosystem-based fisheries management.
Future research should investigate consumption and digestion rates of wahoo. Previous research has outlined wahoo diet in various regions however, quantitative dietary information is needed to assess both the long-term and short-term effects of commercial fishing and climate change. There is also very little information on the Pacific Ocean and southern hemisphere stocks. There is a lack of small or juvenile fish samples, limiting the ability to effectively estimate growth parameters and maturity-at-age information. Research on age, growth, and reproductive biology of wahoo, while extensive, is over 20 years old and lacks quantitative information required for stock assessments. Because of their lack of gill rakers, they are unable to prey on small prey items such as crustaceans. Wahoo are top predators, feeding primarily on fish and squid, using their sharp teeth to turn larger prey into bite-size pieces. Wahoo are a big fish with a large jaw, and are able to swim at speeds greater than 48 miles per hour (78 km per hour). Females produce between 500,000 and 6 million eggs per spawning event. During peak spawning season, wahoo spawn every one to nine days, averaging about five days in between each spawning batch. There is little data about the spawning season in the southern hemisphere and equatorial zone, though it is believed they spawn year-round. Spawning season lasts from May to August in the northern hemisphere, peaking in June. Males reach maturity at 2.8 feet in length (0.85 meters), and females at 3.3 feet (one meter), usually around one year old.
Wahoo have a short life span, living to five or six years old.
They have a particularly long snout, accounting for more than half their head length, and they do not have gill rakers. They grow quickly, averaging between 3.3 and 5.4 feet in length (one and 1.7 meters) with the largest recorded catch weighing 158.5 pounds and being eight feet in length (2.4 meters). Wahoo are the largest member of the mackerel family.
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