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Physical–biological interactions influencing large toothfish over the Ross Sea shelf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2017

Julian Ashford ,
Michael Dinniman  and
Cassandra Brooks
Julian Ashford*
Affiliation:
Center for Quantitative Fisheries Ecology, Old Dominion University, 800 West 46th St, Norfolk, VA 23508, USA
Michael Dinniman
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, 411 Monarch Way, Norfolk, VA 23508, USA
Cassandra Brooks
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
*
jashford@odu.edu
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Abstract

We add comments to a recent series of publications in peer-reviewed journals concerning the distribution of large Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) found over the inner shelf of the Ross Sea. We note that earlier fish ecologists advanced innovative hypotheses invoking physical–biological interactions with life history, and that these, far from being disproved, have been relegated by more immediately pressing management concerns. We argue that, despite the considerable advances achieved by research groups working on D. mawsoni, an understanding of distribution and abundance is incomplete without reference to the physical structure that supports their life history. We briefly consider hypotheses highlighted by the recent literature in the context of major features of the shelf circulation in the Ross Sea, in particular intrusions of modified Circumpolar Deep Water along trough systems. We suggest physical–biological interactions that may be involved and call for improvements in the monitoring programme that can help test between the competing hypotheses.

Keywords

Circumpolar Deep Water intrusionslife history connectivityphysical structuringprobability-based samplingtransport pathwaysvertical distribution
Type
Opinion Paper
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2017 , pp. 487 - 494
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

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