A fish aggregating device (FAD) called a payao is conventionally installed to catch
pelagic species in the Philippines. The waters around the Philippines are important
regions for yellowfin tuna stocks because they include spawning grounds and nurseries. To
understand the schooling behavior of juvenile yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares around a payao, 13 juveniles (20.5−24.0 cm fork length) double tagged with
ultrasonic transmitters (V7-2L-R256; Vemco Ltd.) and data loggers (DST-micro; Star-Oddi
Ltd.) were released around a payao. A self-recording receiver (VR2-DEL; Vemco Ltd.) was
attached on the mooring rope of the payao to follow the horizontal movements and data
loggers recorded the vertical movements of tagged juveniles. Nine juveniles were
recaptured simultaneously by ring net at the same payao after 4-7 days. One juvenile was
recaptured by hand line at another payao 12 km away from the tagging site after 6 days.
Recaptured juveniles showed a diurnal schooling pattern suggesting different school shape
and foraging strategy between daytime and nighttime. Juveniles showed a diurnal horizontal
moving pattern, concentrated near the payao during daytime, while they were distributed
around the payao at nighttime. The fluctuations of swimming depth were synchronized among
fish. Juveniles also showed a diurnal vertical movement pattern in surface mixed layer.
They concentrated in a shallow and narrow range (11.2±8.2 m, mean ± SD) at nighttime,
while they were distributed to a deep and wide range (20.0 ± 11.8 m) during daytime. The
maximum vertical neighbor distance indicated the vertical thickness of the school and
showed a peak around noon. Higher vertical movement speed during daytime indicated
vertical foraging in a water column, while at nighttime the juveniles might forage
horizontally following the diurnal migration patterns of prey in the surface layer.