Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T15:17:49.383Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deep Demersal Fish Assemblage Structure in the Porcupine Seabight (Eastern North Atlantic): Slope Sampling By Three Different Trawls Compared

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

N. R. Merrett ,
J. D. M. Gordon ,
M. Stehmann  and
R. L. Haedrich
N. R. Merrett
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey GU UB Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW BD
J. D. M. Gordon
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Po Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA AD
M. Stehmann
Affiliation:
Ichthyologie, Institut für Seefischerei, 1c/o Zoological Museum, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-2000 Hamburg 13, Germany
R. L. Haedrich
Affiliation:
Ocean Sciences Center, MemorialUniversity of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland A1B X9, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The demersal ichthyofauna of the continental slope of the Porcupine Seabight, eastern North Atlantic, was studied from 144 samples taken by three different types of otter trawl. At least 118 species from 43 families were represented among some 54,000 specimens collected from 247 to 2172m soundings. Collectively, the catches were dominated in species richness by the Macrouridae, Alepocephalidae and Squalidae and in abundance by the Synaphobranchidae, Macrouridae and Moridae. Separately, relative abundance of species was more similar between the two larger trawls, setting their catches apart from the smaller net. Gear selectivity evidently accounted for this variation, which was examined by an index we developed and call species fidelity. This accounts for patterns of continuous faunal change with increased soundings concomitant with variance in species adult size and mobility. In pursuance of a more accurate representation of relative biomass and abun-dance than achieved hitherto, the best estimate, within the limitations imposed by the sampling gears and regime, was derived from a combination of the mean values per 200m stratum of the two large trawls with the addition of those of the eel, Synaphobranchus kaupi, from the small gear. Tentative comparisons between these results and those from elsewhere suggest that the Porcupine Seabight is generally lower in biomass and similar or lower in abundance. It was concluded that an accurate indication of ichthyofaunal structure with increased soundings can only be achieved through a detailed knowledge of the size structure of each species over its entire sounding range synthesized from a multi-trawl investigation via analyses of species fidelity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , May 1991 , pp. 329 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alton, M.S. 1972. Characteristics of the demersal fish fauna inhabiting the outer continental shelf and slope off the north Oregon coast. In The Columbia River Estuary and Adjacent Ocean Waters (ed. Prater, A.T. and Alverson, D.L.), pp. 583–634. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Alverson, D.L.Prater, A.T. & Ronholt, L.L. 1964. A study of demersal fishes and fisheries of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. H.R. MacMillan Lectures in Fisheries. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.Google Scholar
Angel, M.V. 1977. Windows into a sea of confusion: sampling limitations to the measurement of ecological parameters in oceanic mid-water environments. In Oceanic Sound Scattering Pre-diction (ed. Andersen, N.R. and Zahuranec, B.J.) pp. 217–248. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Bridger, J.P. 1978. New deep-water trawling grounds to the west of Britain. Laboratory Leaflets. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Lowestoft, no. 41, 40 pp.Google Scholar
Burd, 1986. Why increase mesh sizes? Laboratory Leaflets. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Lowestoft, no. 58, 29 pp.Google Scholar
Cohen, D.M. & Pawson, D.L. 1977. Observations from the DSRV Alvin on populations of benthic fishes and selected larger invertebrates in and near DWD-106. In Baseline Report of Environmental Conditions in Deepwater Dumpsite 106. vol. 2. Biological Characteristics, pp. 423–450. US Department of Commerce, NOAA, Dumpsite Evaluation Report 77–1.Google Scholar
Day, D.S. & Pearcy, W.G. 1968. Species associations of benthic fishes on the continental shelf and slope off Oregon. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 25, 2665–2675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrich, S. 1983. On the occurrence of some fish species at the slopes of the Rockall Trough. Archiv fur Fischerei Wissenschaft, 33, 105–150.Google Scholar
Engås, A. & Godø, R. 1989a. The effect of different sweep lengths on the length composition of bottom-sampling trawl catches. Journal du Conseil, 45, 263–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engås, A. & Godø, R. 1989b. Escape of fish under the fishing line of a Norwegian sampling trawl and its influence on survey results. Journal du Conseil, 45, 269–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golovan, G.A. 1978. Composition and distribution of the ichthyofauna of the continental slope off North-Western Africa. Trudy Instituta okeanologii. Akademiya nauk SSSR, 111, 195–258. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Gordon, J.D.M. 1986. The fish populations of the Rockall Trough. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (B), 88, 191–204.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.D.M. & Duncan, J. A.R. 1985. The ecology of the deep-sea benthic and benthopelagic fish on the slopes of the Rockall Trough, Northeastern Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography, 15, 37–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, J.D.M. & Mauchline, J. 1990. Depth-related trends in diet of a deep-sea bottom-living fish assemblage of the Rockall Trough. In Trophic Relationships in the Marine Environment. In Proceedings of the 24th European Marine Biological Symposium (ed. Barnes, M. and Gibson, R.N.) pp. 439–452. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.Google Scholar
Grassle, J.FSanders, H.L.Hessler, R.R.Rowe, G.T. & McLellan, T. 1975. Pattern and zonation: a study of the bathyal megafauna using the research submersible Alvin. Deep-Sea Research, 22, 457–481.Google Scholar
Haedrich, R.L.Rowe, G.T. & Polloni, P.T. 1975. Zonation and faunal composition of epibenthic populations on the continental slope south of New England. Journal of Marine Research, 33, 191–212.Google Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Rowe, G.T. 1977. Megafaunal biomass in the deep sea. Nature, London, 269, 141–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Krefft, G. 1978. Distribution of bottom fishes in the Denmark Strait and Irminger Sea. Beep-Sea Research, 25, 705–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Merrett, N.R. 1988. Summary atlas of deep-living demersal fishes in the North Atlantic Basin. Journal of Natural History, 22, 1325–1362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Merrett, N.R. 1990. Little evidence for faunal zonation or communities in the deep sea. Progress in Oceanography, 24, 239–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R. & Domanski, P.A. 1985. Observations on the ecology of deep-sea bottom-living fishes collected off northwest Africa: II. The Moroccan slope (27–34°N), with special reference to Synaphobranchus kaupi. Biological Oceanography 3, 349–399.Google Scholar
Merrett, N.R.Haedrich, R.L.Gordon, J.D.M. & Stehmann, M. 1991. Deep demersal fish assemblage structure in the Porcupine Seabight (eastern North Atlantic): results of single warp trawling at lower slope to abyssal soundings. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 359–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R. & Marshall, N.B. 1981. Observations On The Ecology Of Deep-Sea Bottom-Living Fishes Collected Off Northwest Africa (08–27°n). Progress in Oceanography, 9, 185–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musick, J A. 1976. Patterns in the community structure of demersal fishes on the continental slope and rise of the western North Atlantic. In Book of Abstracts of Joint Oceanographic Assembly, Edinburgh, UK, 13–24 September, 1976. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Pearcy, W.G.Stein, D.L. & Carney, R.S. 1982. The deep-sea benthic fish fauna of the northeastern Pacific Ocean on Cascadia and Tufts Abyssal Plains and adjoining continental slopes. Biological Oceanography, 1, 375–428.Google Scholar
Rätz, H.-J. 1984. Qualitative und quantitative Untersuchungen der Ichthyozönose in der archibenthischen Zone des Rockall — Grabens und umleigender Bänke (Westbritische Gewässer). Mitteilungen aus dem Institut für Seefischerei. Hamburg, no. 34, 152 pp.Google Scholar
Rice, A.L.Billett, D.S.M.Thurston, M.H. & Lampitt, R.S. 1991. The Institute of Oceanographic Sciences biology programme in the Porcupine Seabight: background and general introduction. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 281–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sissenwine, M.P.Azarovitz, T.R. & Suomala, J.B. 1983. Determining the abundance of fish. In Experimental Biology at Sea (ed. Macdonald, A.G. and Priede, I.G.) pp.51–101. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Snelgrove, P. V.R. & Haedrich, R.L. 1985. Structure of the deep demersal fish fauna off Newfound-land. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 27, 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar