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Preliminary observations on the near‐surface fish fauna of the northern North Sea in late autumn
Author(s) -
Hislop J. R. G.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1979.tb03679.x
Subject(s) - fauna , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , abundance (ecology) , water column , fishery , ecology , biomass (ecology) , north sea , oceanography , geology
In the course of cruises by FRV Scotia to study the ecology of O‐group gadoids in the northern North Sea in October 1977 and November 1978, the fish fauna of the upper 1 m of the water column were sampled with an improvised gear. The most abundant species were O‐group rocklings and clupeids and three spined sticklebacks. The frequency of occurrence of the last named and their relatively high abundance (up to 99 individuals in a 30 min haul) suggests that sticklebacks are more widely distributed throughout the open North Sea than is presently supposed. Young rocklings may amount to a considerable biomass in the near‐surface waters.