Giant chipirones on the Chilean coast

2004/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia

It is an animal that normally lives in open ocean and leaves at night to eat small fish. Those found have between 70 and 150 centimeters in length. This event has been analyzed with the help of the Envisat satellite and have shown that the presence is related to changes in the water mass in open sea.

In this area, the appearance of nutrients is common. The deep cold waters, rich in nutrients, increase when the wind eliminates the warm waters of the surface, giving rise to rich fishing complexes. However, in March it did not happen, which caused that in some areas the water temperature was higher. In fact, the chipiron attracted large gradients of salinity and temperature, since in these conditions find the food.

This sudden invasion has caused concern among fishermen in the area. Giant chipirons feed on commercially interesting fish and believe they can endanger their prey.