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The seasonal abundance of young fish XI The year 1949

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. G. Corbin
Affiliation:
Zoologist at the Plymouth Laboratory

Extract

The 1949 production of young fish and plankton in Plymouth off-shore waters continued to remain at the low level characteristic of the last few years. Collections were made by half-hour oblique hauls of the 2 m. stramin ring-trawl; the dates are given in Table I. The fortnightly averages of all young fish, excluding clupeids, are shown in Table II with comparative figures for 1948 and for the period 1930–34. The highest value, in the second half of June, may have been unduly weighted, since only one collection was made in the fortnight. The monthly total catches of young fish are given in Table III. The sum of the monthly averages for all young fish (459) was slightly higher than the 1948 value (3111), due to larger catches of clupeids; young fish other than clupeids continued to decrease. A few post-larval herring were present in January, and for the third successive year young Mugil spp. occurred; two in October and one in December. No young plaice were caught, although a very small number of plaice eggs were present in January and February. Plankton, other than young fish, was very sparse throughout the year, Calanus being even scarcer than in 1948. Sagitta setosa was the dominant Sagitta species, although never abundant, and as in recent years the numbers were particularly low from February to June. A few S. elegans occurred in November and December (maximum, 66 specimens). The abundance and percentages of the Sagitta species are shown in Fig. 1.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1951

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