Food and Feeding of Ocean Redfish (Sebastes mentella Travin) in the North Atlantic

The food and feeding of ocean redfish are described from stomach contents of 26381 individuals analyzed on board commercial vessels in the Irminger waters from March to November. Most of the stomachs had been everted (15488). The feeding intensity mean value throughout the period was 7.1%. The feeding intensity was higher in the months of least reproductive activity in each sex. The prey spectrum was narrow, the diversity diminishing in autumn and winter. Crustacea dominates the redfish diet in March. Other items show great seasonal variation also as with Mollusca which have an increased presence in summer. Crustacea were more abundant in the diet of smaller individuals, the variety of fishes preyed on increasing with the length. The occurrence of Myctop hidae remains constant throughout the length range although their volume increases with size. A marked presence of offal was observed associated with the period of intense commercial activity: April to June. The offal occurrence and offal volume increased with length, particularly in the individuals larger than 40 cm. The intense fishing activity was observed to have a direct influence on diet composition. The main natural prey were: Copepoda (IRI=1582.5); Eupahusiacea (IRI=1361.9); Mollusca Decapoda (IRI=736.8) and Myctophydae (IRI= 220.3). The comparison between Flemish Cap and Irminger Sea redfish diet populations in the same month show important composition differences. The condition factor by month values (Mean=1.26+-0.12) were less than those obtained in the Flemish Cap population (Mean 1.43+-0.17)

Food and Feeding of Deep-sea Redfish (Sebastes mentella Travin) in the North Atlantic

The food and feeding of deep-sea redfish (Sebastes mentella Travin) are described from stomach contents of 26 381 individuals analyzed on board commercial vessels in the Irminger Sea waters, from March to November 1996. Most of the stomachs had been everted (58.7%). The mean feeding intensity value through the period was 7.1%. The feeding intensity was higher in the months of least reproductive activity in each sex. The main natural prey were Copepoda, Euphausiacea, Mollusca, Decapoda and Myctophidae. Crustacea dominated the deep-sea redfish diet in March and were more abundant in the diet of smaller individuals; the variety of food items preyed on increased with the length. The intense commercial fishing activity in the area was observed to have a direct influence on the diet composition. Waste products from on-board processing by the fishing fleet reached higher volume values in the adult diet of deep-sea redfish. The comparison between Irminger Sea deep-sea redfish diet and Flemish Cap in the same year and month showed some composition differences

Review of Spanish Discard information of megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis) in ICES Sub-areas VI , VII and Div. VIIIabd

Trawlers Spanish discards obtained on board commercial vessels in Sub-areas VI and VII in 1988, 1989, 1994, 1999-200-2004 are present to: 1. Validate the discard estimation of megrim onboard comparing length distribution of retained fish on board with landed fishes. 2. Compare estimation megrim discarded following two methodologies: primary sampling unit as hauls or as fishing trips. Examine possible modification on discards estimations in years where results obtained by different methods were relevant. 3. Analyse possible differences in discard patter along the sampled perio

Feeding chronology of American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) and yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea) in the Grand Bank (NAFO Division 3N)

A total of 970 individuals of American plaice and 1999 individuals of yellowtail flounder were sampled from six hauls carry out in a period of 24 hours for studying the feeding chronology. The main prey of yellowtail flounder were gammaridae (19,5%), A. dubius (10,1%) Annelidae (6,3%), Mysidacea (6%) and Antozoa (%,6%). The predominant preys in American plaice were A. dubius (72,3%) followed by Mysidacea (8,5%) and E. Parma (6,1%). Significant differences to the average values of Fulness Index between hauls were obtained for both species. But for the Mean Weight Fulness Index values only for yellowtail flounder significant differences were noted. During a composite 24-hour day peak stomach content weight occurred at nightfall (21 h) in yellowtail flounder. In the American plaice occurred at dawn. These two species present a lesser feed intensity during the night. This feeding behaviour may be related to the different catchability by day/night

Feeding Chronology of Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda ferruginea) and American Plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) on Grand Bank (NAFO Division 3N)

A total of 1199 individuals of yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea, Storer) and 970 individuals of American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides, Fabricius) were sampled from six hauls carried out in a period of 24 hours for studying the feeding chronology of these species. The main prey of yellowtail flounder (considered as total weight percentage) were Gammaridae (19.5%), Ammodytes dubius (10.1%) Annelida (6.3%), Mysidacea (6.0%) and Anthozoa (5.6%). The predominant preys in American plaice were Ammodytes dubius (72.3%), followed by Mysidacea (8.5%) and Echinarachnius parma (6.1%). Diet composition varied with size and timetable for both species. The feeding intensity index values in yellowtail flounder were scaled over 24-hr period, and in both species these values slightly decreased during the night and at dawn, but in American plaice there was more variability in the timetable values between the size ranges. The mean weight fullness index values over the 24-hr period in yellowtail flounder were lower than in American plaice. Also, both species presented different behaviour between the size ranges. No significant differences were noted (p<0.05) in the estimated values for feed intensity throughout the 24-hr period in any of the ranges of both species studied

Guía práctica para el estudio del crecimiento de especies demersales en el Área ICES

Versión revisada 05-02-2015En el documento se presenta una síntesis de los métodos empleados para estudiar el crecimiento y la edad, mediante estructuras calcificadas (otolitos y vértebras), de las especies ícticas de interés comercial para la flota española en el área del ICES. El estudio de estas especies forma parte del requerimiento que la Comisión Europea ha establecido para el Programa Español de Recopilación, Gestión y Uso de Datos Pesqueros (PNDB) en base a los desembarcos nacionales, según establece la normativa vigente de la Unión Europea (UE). En este Programa está involucrado el Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), y entre otros el proyecto BIODEMER, desarrollado en el Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo. Las especies objeto de estudio en este proyecto son: merluza ("Merluccius merluccius"), abadejo ("Pollachius pollachius"), congrio ("Conger conger"), faneca ("Trisopterus luscus"), gallineta ("Helicolenus dactylopterus"), locha ("Phycis blennoides"), maruca ("Molva molva"), maruca española ("Molva macrophthalma"), mendo ("Glyptocephalus cynoglossus"); incluyendo las especies de descarte: arete ("Chelidonichthys cuculus") y goyeta ("Microchirus variegatus"). Para complementar este documento se ha adjuntado el anexo: Fichas técnicas de Biología y crecimiento de 11 especies demersales en el área ICES, en el que se detallan para cada especie los protocolos aplicados en la interpretación de la edad. Para cada caso se incluye una revisión de la bibliografía existente, así como de los talleres e intercambios realizados sobre estudios de crecimiento y edad

Long finned squid (Loligo vulgaris) landings of the Spanish fishing fleet operating in the Northern Atlantic of the Iberian Peninsula.

This study is based on the Loligo spp. commercial landing records of the Spanish fishery operating in the Galician and Cantabrian waters for the period 2000 to 2007. The fishery for long-finned squid in the Northern Iberian Peninsula waters during the study period took almost exclusively Loligo vulgaris (Lamarck, 1798), appearing only a few a few specimens of L. forbesi (Steenstrup, 1856) mixed with the L. vulgaris landings. This scarcity on L. forbesi was investigated by Chen et al. (2006), who noted the dramatic decline of L. forbesi abundance in the Iberian Peninsula in the 1990s and suggested that environmental changes could have been responsible. The long-finned squid represents only the 3% of cephalopod weight landings in the Northern Spain, but it constitutes the second cephalopod species in gastronomic and economic importance for this region, after the common octopus