Abstract
Nineteen species of the deepwater fish family Macrouridae inhabit the mid-Atlantic Ridge of the North Atlantic. Size and age structure, longevity, and length-at-age were explored for seven of the more abundant species: Coryphaenoides armatus, C. brevibarbis, C. carapinus, C. guentheri, C. mediterraneus, C. rupestris, and Macrourus berglax. The otoliths from these species had growth increments resembling those accepted as annuli in other deepwater species for which validation experiments have been conducted. Based on the counts of these growth increments, age estimates were derived as basis for studies of age structure, growth and longevity. All the species appeared to have relatively low growth rates, but the interspecific variation in longevity illustrates that there is a considerable variation within the family and amongst species inhabiting the same deep-sea environment. Most of the species likely complete full lifecycles on the mid-Atlantic Ridge, but it is probable that both the youngest and the largest-oldest individuals of some of the species were not sampled adequately. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. [Abstract copyright: This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.]
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1032-1043 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of Fish Biology |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 7 Jun 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Sept 2021 |
Bibliographical note
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe are grateful to crew and colleagues who sampled and processed macrourids on the MARECO and ECOMAR cruise, to Ms Hege Ø Hansen for assistance in the otolith laboratory, and to home institutions and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation for financial support. An early version of the results was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc degree of R.H.
Fundings:
Data for this paper were collected on cruises funded by Norway and the United Kingdom (Natural Environment Research Council). In addition to institutional funding, the work benefitted from a grant to the ecosystems of the mid-atlantic ridge (MAR-ECO) Programme from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York, USA.
Keywords
- Coryphaenoides
- Deepwater
- Macrourus
- North Atlantic
- life history
- mid-Atlantic Ridge