Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:41:38.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evidence of a relationship between weight and total length of marine fish in the North-eastern Atlantic Ocean: physiological, spatial and temporal variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2016

Kélig Mahé ,
Elise Bellamy ,
Jean Paul Delpech ,
Coline Lazard ,
Michèle Salaun ,
Yves Vérin ,
Franck Coppin  and
Morgane Travers-Trolet
Kélig Mahé*
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
Elise Bellamy
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Environnement Ressources Languedoc Roussillon, IFREMER, Avenue Jean Monnet, CS 30171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
Jean Paul Delpech
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
Coline Lazard
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
Michèle Salaun
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 8 rue François Toullec, 56100 Lorient, France
Yves Vérin
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
Franck Coppin
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
Morgane Travers-Trolet
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: K. Mahé, Fisheries Laboratory, IFREMER, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62 321 Boulogne-sur-mer, France email: kelig.mahe@ifremer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Weight–Body Length relationships (WLR) of 45 fish species (37 Actinopterygii and eight Elasmobranchii) were investigated. A total of 31,167 individuals were caught and their biological parameters measured during the four quarters from 2013 to 2015, on five scientific surveys sampling the North-eastern Atlantic Ocean from the North Sea to the Bay of Biscay (ICES Divisions IVb, IVc, VIId, VIIe, VIIg, VIIh, VIIj, VIIIa and VIIIb). Among 45 tested species, all showed a significant correlation between total length (L) and total weight (W). The influence of sex on WLR was estimated for 39 species and presented a significant sexual dimorphism for 18 species. Condition factor (K) of females was always higher than for males. Moreover, a spatial effect on the WLR according to five ecoregions (the Bay of Biscay, the Celtic Sea, the Western English Channel, the Eastern English Channel and the North Sea), was significant for 18 species among 38 tested species. The temporal effect was tested according to components (year and quarter/season). The seasonality effect on WLR is more frequently significant than the year especially for the Elasmobranchii species, and can be related to the spawning season. Finally, depressiform species (skates, sharks and flatfish) are characterized by positive allometric growth, whereas there is no such clear pattern regarding roundfishes growth, whatever their body shape is.

Keywords

weight-length relationshipcondition factorBay of BiscayCeltic SeaEnglish ChannelNorth Seasexual dimorphismseasonality
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 98 , Issue 3 , May 2018 , pp. 617 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anonymous (2016) World Register of Marine Species. Available at http://www.marinespecies.org (accessed 2 February 2016).Google Scholar
Bagenal, T.B. and Tesch, F.W. (1978) Age and growth. In Begenal, T. (ed.) Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters. Oxford: Blackwell Science Publications, pp. 101–136.Google Scholar
Coppin, F. and Travers-Trolet, M. (1989) CGFS: Channel Ground Fish Survey. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.18142/11Google Scholar
Coull, K.A., Jermyn, A.S., Newton, A.W., Henderson, G.I. and Hall, W.B. (1989) Length/weight relationships for 88 species of fish encountered in the North Atlantic. Scottish Fisheries Research Report, no. 43, 80 pp.Google Scholar
Dorel, D. (1986) Poissons de l'Atlantique Nord-Est: Relations Taille-Poids. IFREMER Publications, Nantes, no. 1, 183 pp.Google Scholar
Fox, J. and Weisberg, S. (2011) An {R} companion to applied regression, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Froese, R. (1998) Length-weight relationships for 18 less-studied fish species. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 14, 117–118.Google Scholar
Froese, R. (2006) Cube law, condition factor and weight–length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 22, 241–253.Google Scholar
Garren, F. and Martin, S. (2013) LANGOLF 2013 cruise, RV Gwen Drez. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.17600/13050030.Google Scholar
Hile, R. (1936) Age and growth of Cisco, Leuhthys artedi (Le Suer) in the lake of north-eastern high lands. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Fisheries 48, 211–317.Google Scholar
Hyndes, G.A., Platell, M.E. and Potter, I.C. (1997) Relationships between diet and body size, mouth morphology, habitat and movement of six sillaginid species in coastal waters: implications for resource partitioning. Marine Biology 128, 585–598.Google Scholar
ICES (2014) Report of the Workshop for maturity staging chairs (WKMATCH), 11–15 June 2012, Split, Croatia, ICES CM 2012/ACOM:58.Google Scholar
Janhunen, M., Peuhkuri, N. and Piironen, J. (2009) Morphological variability among three geographically distinct Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) populations reared in a common hatchery environment. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 18, 106–116.Google Scholar
Le Cren, E.D. (1951) The length–weight relationship and seasonal cycle in gonad weight and condition in the perch (Perca fluviatilis). Journal of Animal Ecology 20, 201–219.Google Scholar
Mahé, J.-C. (1987) EVHOE Evaluation Halieutique de l'Ouest de l'Europe. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.18142/8.Google Scholar
Mahé, K., Coppin, F., Vaz, S. and Carpentier, A. (2013) Striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus, Linnaeus, 1758) in the eastern English Channel and southern North Sea: growth and reproductive biology. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 29, 1067–1072.Google Scholar
Mahé, K., Villanueva, C.-M., Vaz, S., Coppin, F., Koubbi, P. and Carpentier, A. (2014) Morphological variability of the shape of striped red mullet Mullus surmuletus in relation to stock discrimination between the Bay of Biscay and the eastern English Channel. Journal of Fish Biology 84, 1063–1073.Google Scholar
Martin, W.R. (1949) The mechanics of environmental control of body form in fishes. University of Toronto Biological Studies, no. 56, 91 pp.Google Scholar
Morato, T., Afonso, P., Lourinho, P., Barreiros, J.P., Santos, R.S. and Nash, R.D.M. (2001) Length–weight relationships for 21 coastal fish species of the Azores, north-eastern Atlantic. Fisheries Research 50, 297–302.Google Scholar
Moutopoulos, D.K. and Stergiou, K.I. (2002) Length–weight and length–length relationships of fish species from the Aegean Sea (Greece). Journal of Applied Ichthyology 18, 200–203.Google Scholar
Mozsar, A., Boros, G., Sály, P., Antal, L. and Nagy, S.A. (2015) Relationship between Fulton's condition factor and proximate body composition in three freshwater fish species. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 31, 315–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naderi, M., Zare, P. and Azvar, E. (2013) Length–weight relationships for five stingray species from the Persian Gulf. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 29, 1177–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pallaoro, A., Jardas, I. and Santic, M. (2005) Weight–length relationships for 11 chondrichthyan species in the eastern Adriatic Sea. Cybium 29, 93–96.Google Scholar
Pauly, D. (2010) Gasping fish and panting squids: oxygen, temperature and the growth of water-breathing animals. Excellence in Ecology, International Ecology Institute, no. 22, 216 pp.Google Scholar
Pauly, D. and Gayanilo, F.C. Jr (1997) A Bee: An alternative approach to estimating the parameters of a length-weight relationship from length frequency samples and their bulk weights. Manila, Philippines: NAGA ICLARM.Google Scholar
Petrakis, G. and Stergiou, K.I. (1995) Weight-length relationship for 33 fish species in Greek waters. Fisheries Research 21, 465–469.Google Scholar
R Core Team (2016) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Ricker, W.E. (1975) Computation and interpretation of the biological statistics of fish populations. Bulletin Fisheries Research Board of Canada 191, 1–382.Google Scholar
Silva, J.F., Ellis, J.R. and Ayers, R.A. (2013) Length-weight relationships of marine fish collected from around the British Isles. Science Series Technical report, Lowestoft, Cefas publications, no. 150, 109 pp.Google Scholar
Tesch, F.W. (1968) Age and growth. In Ricker, W.E. (ed.) Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 93–123.Google Scholar
Torres, M.A., Ramos, F. and Sobrino, I. (2012) Length-weight relationships of 76 fish species from the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Spain). Fisheries Research 127–128, 171–175.Google Scholar
Travers-Trolet, M. and Vérin, Y. (2014) CAMANOC cruise, RV Thalassa. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.17600/14001900.Google Scholar
Vérin, Y. (1992) IBTS International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS). Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.18142/17.Google Scholar
Verreycken, H., Van Thuyne, G. and Belpaire, C. (2011) Length–weight relationships of 40 freshwater fish species from two decades of monitoring in Flanders (Belgium). Journal of Applied Ichthyology 27, 1416–1421.Google Scholar
Weatherley, A.H. and Gill, H.S. (1987) The biology of fish growth. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wilhelms, I. (2013) Atlas of length-weight relationships of 93 fish and crustacean species from the North Sea and the North-East Atlantic. Thünen Working Paper, no. 12, 552 pp.Google Scholar
Wootton, R.J. (1990) Ecology of teleost fish. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Yeldan, H. and Avsar, D. (2007) Length–weight relationship for five elasmobranch species from the Cilician Basin shelf waters (Northeastern Mediterranean). Journal of Applied Ichthyology 23, 713–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yığın, C.C. and Ismen, A. (2009) Length–weight relationships for seven rays from Saros Bay (North Aegean Sea). Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25, 106–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuur, A.F., Ieno, E.N. and Smith, G.M. (2007) Analysing ecological data. New York, NY: Springer Science.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Mahé supplementary material

Tables S1-S3

Download Mahé supplementary material(File)
File 78 KB