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Scavenging deep demersal fishes of the Porcupine Seabight, north-east Atlantic: observations by baited camera, trap and trawl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

I.G. Priede ,
P.M. Bagley ,
A. Smith ,
S. Creasey  and
N.R. Merrett
I.G. Priede
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen, Department of Zoology, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB9 2TN
P.M. Bagley
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen, Department of Zoology, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB9 2TN
A. Smith
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen, Department of Zoology, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB9 2TN
S. Creasey
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen, Department of Zoology, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB9 2TN
N.R. Merrett
Affiliation:
The Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD
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Abstract

Demersal fishes on the continental rise and slope were sampled by trawl, baited trap and a baited camera. Seventy-one different species were trawled, but only 18 species approached baits. At rise soundings (4100 m to 2250 m) Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) armatus was dominant at baits and comprised 41·5% of the trawl catch. On the slope (<2250 m) Synaphobranchus kaupi was dominant at baits and comprised 32·7% of the trawl catch. At 1500–2501 m Antimora rostrata competed at baits and comprised 5–10% of trawl catches. At 1500–1650 m Centroscymnus coelolepis also consumed baits but was not captured by trawl. For C. (N.) armatus abundance was proportional to tarr2 (where tarr= arrival time), demonstrating that arrival time of the first fish at baits provides an estimate of population density. Maximum estimated abundance at 2897 m was 877 km-2, more than five times the abundance on the abyssal plain. Halosauropsis macrochir, Lepidion eques, Coryphaenoides guentheri, Gadiculus argenteus and Coryphaenoides rupestris were important in trawl samples but absent or rare at baits.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , August 1994 , pp. 481 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1994

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