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Spatial patterns of summer demersal fish assemblages around the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 August 2014
Abstract
During the research programme conducted on the OV Puerto Deseado in the summers of 2011 and 2013, 36 stations were sampled using a demersal net at depths between 53–590 m in the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands. A total 3378 fish specimens belonging to 36 species were recorded. Notothenidae was the best-represented family in species number, with Lepidonotothen nudifrons, L. larseni and Trematomus scotti being the most numerous species. Of the fish assemblages, 20% of the species were considered as dominant, 10% as common, 13% as occasional and 57% as rare. Six groups (and two sub-groups) were obtained by the ordination diagram based on geographical location: group 1=Gerlache Strait, group 2=Deception Islands, group 3=Biscoe Island, group 4=between Elephant and King George islands, group 5=northern Antarctic Peninsula, and group 6=South Shetland Islands, with sub-groups 6a shallower South Shetland Islands and 6b deeper South Shetland Islands. Sampling depth and water temperature significantly explained the spatial pattern. A latitudinal pattern of decreasing abundance from north-east to south-west was found in L. larseni and the opposite in T. scotti. The predictability of fish composition in the assemblages’ areas could be a useful tool for ecosystem-based management.
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- © Antarctic Science Ltd 2014
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