Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:08:32.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The benthos and fish of offshore sandbank habitats in the southern North Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2010

J.R. Ellis ,
T. Maxwell ,
M. Schratzberger  and
S.I. Rogers
J.R. Ellis*
Affiliation:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK
T. Maxwell
Affiliation:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK
M. Schratzberger
Affiliation:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK
S.I. Rogers
Affiliation:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J.R. Ellis, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Meiofauna, macro-infauna and epifauna were sampled at two offshore sandbanks in the southern North Sea in 2006. The epifaunal and infaunal communities in the dynamic environment of the sandbank crests were species poor, with lesser weever, solenette, Crangon crangon, amphipods and deposit-feeding polychaetes the predominant benthic taxa. Abundant early life-history stages (24–39 mm) of the lesser weever Echiichthys vipera on the sandbank crests indicated that these habitats may be important nursery grounds for this species. Species diversity of infauna and epifauna was greater in the deeper waters parallel to the sandbanks. Contrasting patterns were evident for meiofaunal nematodes, where communities collected on the sandbank crests were more diverse than those recorded in the deeper off-bank sites. The fauna of sandbank crests is composed of a restricted range of the fauna typically associated with sandy habitats, particularly taxa adapted to live in this dynamic environment.

Keywords

nematodesinfaunaepifaunademersal fishTrachinidaenursery groundbeam trawlSwarte BankBroken BankNorfolkNorth Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 91 , Special Issue 6: Fish Ecology , September 2011 , pp. 1319 - 1335
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

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

Amezcua, F., Nash, R.D.M. and Veale, L. (2003) Feeding habits of the order Pleuronectiformes and its relation to the sediment type in the north Irish Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 83, 593–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auster, P.J., Lindholm, J., Schaub, S., Nowak, B.F., Funnell, G., Kaufman, L.S. and Valentine, P.C. (2003) Use of sand wave habitats by silver hake. Journal of Fish Biology 62, 143–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auster, P.J., Malatesta, R.J. and LaRosa, S.C. (1995) Patterns of microhabitat utilization by mobile megafauna on the southern New England (USA) continental shelf and slope. Marine Ecology Progress Series 127, 77–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, M.J.N. and van Santbrink, J.W. (2000) Fishing mortality of populations of megafauna in sandy sediments. In Kaiser, M.J. and de Groot, S.J. (eds) Effects of fishing on non-target species and habitats. Biological conservation and socio-economic issues. Oxford: Blackwell Science, pp. 49–65.Google Scholar
Callaway, R., Alsvåg, J., de Boois, I., Cotter, J., Ford, A., Hinz, H., Jennings, S., Kröncke, I., Lancaster, J., Piet, G., Prince, P. and Ehrich, S. (2002) Diversity and community structure of epibenthic invertebrates and fish in the North Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science 59, 1199–1214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CEC (2007) Guidelines for the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in the marine environment. Application of the Habitats and Birds Directives. Available online at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/marine/index_en.htm (accessed 27 August 2008).Google Scholar
Clarke, K.R. and Gorley, R.N. (2006) PRIMER v6: user manual/tutorial. Plymouth: PRIMER-E.Google Scholar
Collins, M.B., Shimwell, S.J., Gao, S., Powell, H., Hewitson, C. and Taylor, J.A. (1995) Water and sediment movement in the vicinity of linear sandbanks: the Norfolk Banks, southern North Sea. Marine Geology 123, 125–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, F.M. (1925) Quantitative studies on the fauna of the sea bottom. 2. Results of the investigations in the southern North Sea, 1921–1924. Fisheries Investigations, London, Series 2 8, 50 pp.Google Scholar
Dewicke, A., Vincx, M., Cattrijsse, A. and Mees, J. (2003) Spatial patterns of the hyperbenthos of subtidal sandbanks in the southern North Sea. Journal of Sea Research 49, 27–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diaz, R.J., Cutter, G.R. and Able, K.W. (2003) The importance of physical and biogenic structure to juvenile fishes on the shallow inner continental shelf. Estuaries 26, 12–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, J.R., Maxwell, T., Schratzberger, M., Warr, K. and Rogers, S.I. (2007) Small-scale heterogeneity in the mobile macro-epifauna associated with mud, sand and coarse habitats. ICES CM 2007/A:07, 17 pp.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.R. and Rogers, S.I. (1999) The marine fauna off the coast of East Anglia. Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society 35, 45–56.Google Scholar
EU (1992) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. Official Journal L 206, 0007-0050.Google Scholar
Glémarec, M. (1973) The benthic communities of the European North Atlantic continental shelf. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 11, 263–289.Google Scholar
Holme, N.A. (1949) The fauna of sand and mud banks near the mouth of the Exe Estuary. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 28, 189–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howarth, M.J. and Huthnance, J.M. (1984) Tidal and residual currents around a Norfolk sandbank. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 19, 105–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S., Dinmore, T.A., Duplisea, D.E., Warr, K.J. and Lancaster, J. (2001) Trawling disturbance can modify benthic production processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 70, 459–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S., Lancaster, J., Woolmer, A. and Cotter, J. (1999) Distribution, diversity and abundance of epibenthic fauna in the North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 79, 385–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S., Nicholson, M.D., Dinmore, T.A. and Lancaster, J. (2002) The effects of chronic trawling disturbance on the production of infaunal communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 243, 251–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, N.S. (1950) Marine bottom communities. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 25, 283–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jumars, P.A. and Sato, M. (2008) Seasonal and vertical variations in emergence behaviors of Neomysis americana. Limnology and Oceanography 53, 1665–1677.Google Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Bergmann, M., Hinz, H., Galanidi, M., Shucksmith, R., Rees, E.I.S., Darbyshire, T. and Ramsay, K. (2004) Demersal fish and epifauna associated with sandbank habitats. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 60, 445–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kröncke, I. and Knust, R. (1995) The Dogger Bank: a special ecological region in the Central North Sea. Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen 49, 345–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kröncke, I. and Wieking, G. (2003) Macrofauna communities of the Dogger Bank (central North Sea) in the late 1990s: spatial distribution, species composition and trophic structure. Helgoland Marine Research 57, 34–46.Google Scholar
Ma, H., Grassle, J.P. and Chant, R.J. (2006) Vertical distribution of bivalve larvae along a cross-shelf transect during summer upwelling and downwelling. Marine Biology 149, 1123–1138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magurran, A.E. (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medved, R.J. and Marshall, J.A. (1983) Short-term movements of young sandbar sharks, Carcharhinus plumbeus (Pisces, Carcharhinidae). Bulletin of Marine Science 33, 87–93.Google Scholar
Michalsen, K., Godoe, O.R. and Fernoe, A. (1996) Diel variation in the catchability of gadoids and its influence on the reliability of abundance indices. ICES Journal of Marine Science 53, 389–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moulaert, I. and Hostens, K. (2007) Post-extraction evolution of a macrobenthic community on the intensively extracted Kwintebank site in the Belgian part of the North Sea. ICES CM 2007/A:12, 13 pp.Google Scholar
Pan, S., MacDonald, N., Williams, J., O'Connor, B.A., Nicholson, J. and Davies, A.M. (2007) Modelling the hydrodynamics of offshore sandbanks. Continental Shelf Research 27, 1264–1286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, S.A., Fock, H., Krause, J., Pusch, C., Sell, A.L., Böttcher, U., Rogers, S.I., Sköld, M., Skov, H., Podolska, M., Piet, G.J. and Rice, J.C. (2009) Natura 2000 sites and fisheries in German offshore waters. ICES Journal of Marine Science 66, 155–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poiner, I.R. and Kennedy, R. (1984) Complex patterns of change in the macrobenthos of a large sandbank following dredging. 1. Community analysis. Marine Biology 78, 335–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, H.L., Eggleton, J.D., Rachor, E. and Vanden, Berghe E. (eds) (2007) Structure and dynamics of the North Sea benthos. ICES Cooperative Research Report No. 288, 258 pp.Google Scholar
Russell, F.S. (1976) The eggs and planktonic stages of British marine fishes. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Somerfield, P.J. and Warwick, R.M. (1996) Meiofauna in marine pollution monitoring programmes. A laboratory manual. Lowestoft, UK: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Directorate of Fisheries Research, 71 pp.Google Scholar
Tyler, P.A. and Shackley, S.E. (1980) The benthic ecology of linear sandbanks: a modified Spisula sub-community. In Collins, M.B., Banner, F.T., Tyler, P.A., Wakefield, S.J. and James, A.E. (eds) Industrial embayments and their environmental problems. a case study of Swansea Bay. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 539–551.Google Scholar
Vanaverbeke, J., Gheskiere, T., Steyaert, M. and Vincx, M. (2002) Nematode assemblages from subtidal sandbanks in the Southern Bight of the North Sea: effect of small sedimentological differences. Journal of Sea Research 48, 197–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanaverbeke, J., Gheskiere, T. and Vincx, M. (2000) The meiobenthos of subtidal sandbanks on the Belgian continental shelf (Southern Bight of the North Sea). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 51, 637–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanosmael, C. and Heip, C. (1986) A comparative study of the macrobenthos of three sandbanks in the Belgian coastal waters in 1980–1984. Has sand exploitation an influence on the macrobenthos? ICES CM 1986/L:16; 12 pp.Google Scholar
Vanosmael, C., Willems, K.A., Claeys, D., Vincx, M. and Heip, C. (1982) Macrobenthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 62, 521–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasslides, J.M. and Able, K.W. (2008) Importance of shoreface sand ridges as habitat for fishes off the northeast coast of the United States. Fishery Bulletin 106, 93–107.Google Scholar
Wieking, G. and Kröncke, I. (2005) Is benthic trophic structure affected by food quality? The Dogger Bank example. Marine Biology 146, 387–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willems, K.A., Vanosmael, C., Claeys, D., Vincx, M. and Heip, C. (1982a) Benthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea: general considerations. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 62, 549–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willems, K.A., Vincx, M., Claeys, D., Vanosmael, C. and Heip, C. (1982b) Meiobenthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 62, 535–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J.B. (1982) Shelly faunas associated with temperate offshore tidal deposits. In Stride, A.H. (ed.) Offshore tidal sands: processes and deposits. London: Chapman and Hall, pp. 126–171.Google Scholar
Withers, R.G. and Thorp, C.H. (1978) The macrobenthos inhabiting sandbanks in Langstone Harbour, Hampshire. Journal of Natural History 12, 445–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zühlke, R., Alvsvåg, J., de Boois, I., Ehrich, S., Cotter, J., Ford, A., Hinz, H., Jarre-Teichmann, A., Jennings, S., Kröncke, I., Lancaster, J., Piet, G. and Prince, P. (2001) Epibenthic diversity in the North Sea. Senckenbergiana Maritima 31, 269–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar