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Kitagawa Lab
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The lab uses data loggers to investigate the migration and body functions of tunas and salmon.
AboutAbout the lab
Tuna and salmon: investigating their private lives
The Kitagawa Lab studies the behavior and living environments of fishes that migrate widely across the ocean, such as tunas and salmon.
Using biologging, which measures fish behavior directly by attaching data loggers to the fish, and otolith analysis, the lab investigates why they move the way they do and also predicts their future distribution.
While developing new technologies, the lab studies how internal functions such as metabolism and body temperature respond to environmental changes as the fish swim.
The lab is also engaged in research that contributes to regional revitalization, as well as outreach activities.
Key terms
- Biologging
- A method of attaching small data loggers to animals to record their behavior, body temperature, the surrounding water temperature, and more
- Otolith
- A small, stone-like structure inside a fish's head. Like the rings of a tree, it preserves a record of the fish's growth
- Metabolism
- The process by which living organisms extract energy from the food they eat and use it to move and maintain their bodies
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates the migration, behavior, and living environments of highly migratory fishes such as tunas (tribe Thunnini) and salmon (genus Oncorhynchus), aiming to clarify why they behave as they do and to predict their future distribution. It also studies the mechanisms of metabolism and body temperature that support their migration.
*Illustrative imageBehavioral Ecology of Migratory Fishes
The lab measures the migration, behavior, and living environments of tunas and salmon directly through biologging, and estimates their environmental histories from the isotope ratios and trace elements in otoliths. By combining these data with numerical simulations, the lab explores why the fish migrate and how their distribution will change in the future.
*Illustrative imageFish Metabolism and Body Temperature
The lab investigates the metabolic characteristics that support long-distance migration in salmon. For tunas, which maintain a body temperature higher than the surrounding water temperature, it examines how energy requirements change as they grow, using closed recirculating tanks and mathematical models.
MembersFaculty
The Kitagawa Lab consists of faculty members, project researchers, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakashi KitagawaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Thunnus orientalis (Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium)” OpenCage / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Behavioral Ecology of Migratory Fishes: “Sebastes mentella-otolithes” Matthieu Godbout / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Fish Metabolism and Body Temperature: “Oncorhynchus keta” Focus Saranpat Ouilapan / CC0 (cropped)
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