Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:54:39.738Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Length–depth relations of Enchelyopus cimbrius fourbeard rockling (Gadiformes: Phycidae) from the southern Gulf of St Lawrence and Cabot Strait in relation to abiotic factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Eliane Aubry ,
D.A. Methven  and
Tom Hurlbut
Eliane Aubry
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L5
D.A. Methven*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L5
Tom Hurlbut
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Gulf Region, Gulf Fisheries Centre, PO Box 5030, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, E1C 9B6
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: D.A. Methven, Department of Biology and Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L5 email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research vessel survey data collected by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the southern Gulf of St Lawrence (1971–2002) and Cabot Strait (1994–1997) were analysed to determine if Enchelyopus cimbrius the fourbeard rockling, distributed itself with larger individuals occurring in deeper water. A positive size–depth relationship was first observed for the European plaice, Pleuronectes platessa in the North Sea and has been reported for other fish. Positive relationships were found between the total length of E. cimbrius and depths where it occurred in this study. However, the biological relationship was not significant since the linear regression slopes were very weak, explaining less than approximately five per cent of the variance observed. Data were analysed further to determine the water depth, temperature and salinity ranges where the fourbeard rockling was most abundant. Enchelyopus cimbrius occurred throughout the depth-ranges sampled with highest catches occurring at 25–50 m (southern Gulf of St Lawrence) and deeper than 200 m (southern Gulf of St Lawrence and Cabot Strait). Low catches at intermediate depths (~50–100 m) in the southern Gulf of St Lawrence may have been due to the lack of suitable mud substrate and colder bottom temperatures in the Magdalen Shallows, a large central region of the southern Gulf. Enchelyopus cimbrius was mostly caught at relatively narrow temperature and salinity ranges of 4–6°C and 34–34.9 ppt in both regions, and only occurred in areas with a mud substratum, predominantly in the eastern Northumberland Strait, Baie des Chaleurs and in the deeper water of the Cape Breton Trough, Laurentian Channel and Cabot Strait. Enchelyopus cimbrius was caught throughout the day and night, contradicting a previous study that characterized it as being nocturnal in shallow coastal waters off Newfoundland.

Keywords

length–depth relationsEnchelyopus cimbriussouthern Gulf of St LawrenceCabot Straitabiotic factors
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 8 , December 2009 , pp. 1643 - 1653
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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

Barton, M. (2007) Bond's biology of fishes. 3rd edition. Belmont, California: Thomson Brooks Cole.Google Scholar
Benoît, H.P. and Swain, D.P. (2003a) Accounting for length- and depth-dependent diel variation in catchability of fish and invertebrates in an annual bottom-trawl survey. ICES Journal of Marine Science 60, 1298–1317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benoît, H.P. and Swain, D.P. (2003b) Standardizing the southern Gulf of St Lawrence bottom-trawl survey time series: adjusting for changes in research vessel, gear and survey protocol. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, No. 2505.Google Scholar
Benoît, H.P., Darbyson, E. and Swain, D.P. (2003) An atlas of the geographic distribution of marine fish and invertebrates in the southern Gulf of St Lawrence based on annual bottom-trawl surveys (1971–2002). Canadian Data Report for Fisheries and Aquatic Science, No. 1112.Google Scholar
Black, R. and Miller, R.J. (1991) Use of the intertidal zone by fish in Nova Scotia. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31, 109–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campana, S.E., Chouinard, G.A., Hanson, J.M. and Frechet, A. (1999) Mixing and migration of over wintering Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks near the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 56, 1873–1881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, D.M. and Russo, J.L. (1979) Variation in the fourbeard rockling, Enchelyopus cimbrius, a North Atlantic gadid fish, with comments on the genera of rocklings. Fishery Bulletin US 77, 91–102.Google Scholar
Collette, B.B. and Klein-McPhee, G. (2002) Bigelow and Schroeder's fishes of the Gulf of Maine, 3rd edition. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Collins, M.A., Bailey, D.M., Ruxton, G.D. and Priede, I.G. (2005) Trends in body size across an environmental gradient: a differential response in scavenging and non-scavenging demersal deep-sea fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences 272, 2051–2057.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalley, E.L. and Anderson, J.T. (1997) Distribution and abundance of demersal juvenile cod (Gadus morhua) in inshore and offshore areas of northeast Newfoundland (NAFO Divisions 3KL) in the early 1990s. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54, Supplement 1, 168–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Lafontaine, Y., Sinclair, M., El-Sabh, M.I., Lassus, C. and Fournier, R. (1984) Temporal occurrence of ichthyoplankton in relation to hydrographic and biological variables at a fixed station in the St Lawrence Estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 18, 177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deree, H.L. (1999) Age and growth, dietary habits, and parasitism of the fourbeard rockling, Enchelyopus cimbrius, from the Gulf of Maine. Fishery Bulletin US 97, 39–52.Google Scholar
Gibson, R.N., Robb, L., Burrows, M.T. and Ansell, A.D. (1996) Tidal, diel and longer term changes in the distribution of fishes on a Scottish sandy beach. Marine Ecology Progress Series 130, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. and Polloni, P.T. (1976) A contribution to the life history of a small rattail fish, Coryphaenoides carapinus. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 75, 203–211.Google Scholar
Hargrave, B.T., Harding, G.C., Drinkwater, K.F., Lambert, T.C. and Harrison, W.G. (1985) Dynamics of the pelagic food web in St Georges Bay, southern Gulf of St Lawrence. Marine Ecology Progress Series 20, 221–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heincke, F. (1913) Investigations on the plaice. 1. The plaice fishery and protective regulations. Rapports et Procès-verbaux des Réunions. Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer 17, 1–153.Google Scholar
Herder, E., Methven, D.A. and Hurlbut, T.R. (2005) Long-term changes in size–depth distributions of Urophycis tenuis white hake in the southern Gulf of St Lawrence and Cabot Strait. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 1203–1210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermes, R. (1985) Distribution of neustonic larvae of hakes Urophycis spp. and fourbeard rockling Enchelyopus cimbrius in the Georges Bank area. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 114, 604–608.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurlbut, T. and Clay, D. (1990) Protocols for research vessel cruises within the Gulf region (demersal fish) (1970–1987). Canadian Manuscript Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, No. 2082.Google Scholar
Keats, D.W. and Steele, D.H. (1990) The fourbeard rockling, Enchelyopus cimbrius (L.), in eastern Newfoundland. Journal of Fish Biology 37, 803–811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurel, B.J., Gregory, R.S. and Brown, J.A. (2003) Settlement and distribution of Age-0 juvenile cod, Gadus morhua and G. ogac, following a large-scale habitat manipulation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 262, 241–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loring, D.H. and Nota, D.J.G. (1973) Morphology and sediments of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Bulletin of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 182, 1–147.Google Scholar
Macdonald, J.S., Dadswell, M.J., Appy, R., Melvin, G. and Methven, D.A. (1984) Fishes, fish assemblages, and seasonal movements in the lower Bay of Fundy and Passamaquoddy Bay, Canada. Fishery Bulletin US 82, 121–139.Google Scholar
Macpherson, E. and Duarte, C.M. (1991) Bathymetric trends in demersal fish size: is there a general relationship? Marine Ecology Progress Series 71, 103–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markle, D.F., Methven, D.A. and Coates-Markle, L.J. (1982) Aspects of spatial and temporal co-occurrence in the life history stages of the sibling hakes, Urophycis chuss (Walbaum 1792) and Urophycis tenuis (Mitchill 1815) (Pisces: Gadidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology 60, 2057–2078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R. and Haedrich, R.L. (1997) Deep-sea demersal fish and fisheries. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Methven, D.A. and Schneider, D.C. (1998) Gear-independent patterns of variation in catch of juvenile cod (Gadus morhua) in coastal habitats. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 55, 1430–1442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Methven, D.A., Haedrich, R.L. and Rose, G.A. (2001) The fish assemblage of a Newfoundland estuary: diel, monthly and annual variation. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 52, 669–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Middleton, R.W. and Musick, J.A. (1986) The abundance and distribution of the family Macrouridae (Pisces Gadiformes) in the Norfolk Canyon Area. Fishery Bulletin 84, 35–62.Google Scholar
Moranta, J., Palmer, M., Massutı, E., Stefanescu, C. and Morales-Nin, B. (2004) Body fish size tendencies within and among species in the deep-sea of the western Mediterranean. Scientia Marina 68, 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moranta, J., Massutı, E., Palmer, M. and Gordon, J.D.M. (2007) Geographic and bathymetric trends in abundance, biomass and body size of four grenadier fishes along the Iberian coast in the western Mediterranean. Progress in Oceanography 72, 63–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rangeley, R.W. and Kramer, D.L. (1995) Use of rocky intertidal habits by juvenile pollock Pollachius virens. Marine Ecology Progress Series 126, 9–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J.D. and Parnell, W.G. (1984) The distribution of young cod. In Dahl, E., Danielssen, D.S., Mokness, E. and Solemdal, P. (eds) The Propagation of cod Gadus morhua L. An International Symposium Arendal, Norway 14–17 June 1983. Flødevigen Rapportser 1. Part 2, pp. 563–580.Google Scholar
Scott, W.B. and Scott, M.G. (1988) Atlantic fishes of Canada. Canadian Bulletin of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 219, 1–731.Google Scholar
Sfakiotakis, M., Lane, D.M. and Davies, J.B.C. (1999) Review of fish swimming modes for aquatic locomotion. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 24, 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stefanescu, C., Rucabado, J. and Lloris, D. (1992) Depth–size trends in western Mediterranean demersal deep-sea fishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series 81, 205–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svetovidov, A.N. (1948) Fauna of USSR. Fishes, Gadiformes Volume IX, No. 4. Zoological Institutes of the Academy of the USSR. New Series No. 34. Translated from Russian and published for the National Science Foundation, Washington, DC by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem 1962.Google Scholar
Swain, D.P. (1993) Age- and density-dependent bathymetric pattern of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the southern Gulf of St Lawrence. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 50, 1255–1264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Videler, J.J. (1993) Fish swimming. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wimpenny, R.S. (1953) The plaice. London: Edward Arnold and Company.Google Scholar
Wroblewski, J.S., Kryger-Hann, L.K., Methven, D.A. and Haedrich, R.L. (2007) The fish fauna of Gilbert Bay, Labrador: a marine protected area in the Canadian subarctic coastal zone. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 575–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar