INDITUN: Trophic ecology of southern bluefun tuna larvae in the North-eastern Indian Ocean
INDITUN is a collaborative project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to compile and synthesize data collected over the past few years on Bluefin Tuna Larvae growth and survival. This project connects naturally with BLOOFINZ-GOM (Gulf of Mexico) and BLOOFINZ-IO (Indian Ocean) conducted between 2017 and 2022.
During the BLOOFINZ-GOM project I was a student at Florida State University and was in charge of phytoplankton growth, nutrient utilization, and export production. Then for the BLOOFINZ-IO cruise I was a postdoc working on trace metal distributions and export from the euphotic zone. For the INDITUN project (unfunded collaborator) I’ll facilitate data compilation and provide an oceanographic context for the assessment of larval dynamics, which are often associated with mesoscale features.
The nuts and bolts of this project will be in developing and updating the baseline for both Southern Bluefin Tuna and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. This will include updating taxonomic keys, establishing growth-length-temperature curves, and investigating their feeding ecology. All of this is done with an eye towards their suitability under climate change.
Checkout my 5 minute introduction to the Indian Ocean datasets below: