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Food availability for sprat larvae in the Irish Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

S. H. Coombs ,
J. H. Nichols ,
D. V. P. Conway ,
S. Milligan  and
N. C. Halliday
S. H. Coombs
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
J. H. Nichols
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 OHT
D. V. P. Conway
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
S. Milligan
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 OHT
N. C. Halliday
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
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Extract

The distribution of larvae of sprat (Sprattus sprattus) is described in relation to feeding conditions in the Irish Sea. Larvae were most abundant towards the coastal margins. Relatively few were taken in the mixed water of the central Irish Sea. Preferred food organisms were also more abundant in coastal regions. Both sprat eggs and larvae, and microplankton, were more dispersed down the water column when it was fully mixed than when stratified. Characterization of food availability for larvae, as peak (modal) abundance down the water-column, is shown to be related to the degree of stratification.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 72 , Issue 4 , November 1992 , pp. 821 - 834
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1992

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