Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-19T12:45:35.030Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seasonal and age-related migrations in the unexpectedly long-lived benthic fish the lesser weever, Echiichthys vipera (Cuvier, 1829)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2015

A.L. Scott  and
P.A. Henderson
A.L. Scott
Affiliation:
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Beechcroft House, Vicarage Lane, Curdridge SO32 2DP, UK
P.A. Henderson*
Affiliation:
Pisces Conservation Ltd, IRC House, The Square, Pennington, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 8GN, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:P.A. Henderson, Pisces Conservation Ltd, IRC House, The Square, Pennington, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 8GN, UK email: peter@pisces-conservation.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A study of an inshore southern North Sea population of lesser weever, Echiichthys vipera, on the Suffolk coast, England, found this small, abundant, benthic fish to reach an age of 15 years and suffer an adult mortality rate of only 0.23 y−1. The maximum length observed of 195 mm Standard length (SL) (225 mm total length, TL) was the greatest yet reported and many individuals >140 mm SL (163 mm TL) were caught between 2009 and 2012. Previous studies have reported a maximum of 160 mm TL and a von Bertalanffy asymptotic TL of 150.3 mm. Age structure analysis showed that recruitment into the local inshore Sizewell population continued until 5 or more years of age. A 6 year age of recruitment corresponds to the age when they have been reported to have disappeared from offshore locations and previously assumed to have died from old age. Regular seasonal changes in local abundance were observed with peak captures during May, presumably caused by seasonal immigration, followed by a summer minimum and a second, more variable, maximum in early autumn before the winter minimum. The winter minimum in captures may be due to either inactivity or offshore migration. Lesser weever has evolved a long-lived, slow growing, life history strategy unusual for small benthic fish in the southern North Sea. By spending long periods hidden in sand, using venom for defence and remaining inactive for an extended period each winter, lesser weever has adopted a strategy which favours high survival and increased longevity.

Keywords

lesser weevergrowthagelongevitypopulation ecologymortality
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 6 , September 2016 , pp. 1287 - 1293
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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

Bagge, O. (2004) The biology of the greater weever (Trachinus draco) in the commercial fishery of the Kattegat. ICES Journal of Marine Science 61, 933–943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beare, D.J., Burns, F., Greig, A., Jones, E.G., Peach, K., Kienzle, M., McKenzie, E. and Reid, D.G. (2004) Long-term increases in prevalence of North Sea fishes having southern biogeographic affinities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 284, 269–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, D. (1983) Weever fish sting: an unusual problem. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition) 287, 406–407.Google Scholar
Campana, S.E. (2001) Accuracy, precision and quality control in age determination, including a review of the use and abuse of age validation methods. Journal of Fish Biology 59, 197–242.Google Scholar
Carlisle, D.B. (1962) On the venom of the lesser weeverfish, Trachinus vipera . Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 42, 155–162.Google Scholar
Creutzberg, F. and Witte, J.I. (1989) An attempt to estimate the predatory pressure exerted by the lesser weever, Trachinus vipera Cuvier, in the southern North-Sea. Journal of Fish Biology 34, 429–449.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.R., Maxwell, T., Schratzberger, M. and Rogers, S.I. (2011) The benthos and fish of offshore sandbank habitats in the southern North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 91, 1319–1335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, H.M. (1907) Observations on the poisoned spines of the weever fish (Trachinus draco). British Medical Journal 1, 73–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fonds, M. and Boerman, G.M. (1981) Postlarven en juvenielen van vissen in de macro-planktonvangsten bij lichtschip Texel. Interne verslagen Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee 1981 (5).Google Scholar
Gunnarsson, A. and Gunnarsson, K. (2002) Temperature effects on growth and maturity of butterfish (Pholis gunnellus) in Iceland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82, 903–906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobsson, A., Neuman, E. and Thoresson, G. (1986) The viviparous blenny as an indicator of environmental effects of harmful substances. Ambio 15, 236–238.Google Scholar
Keats, D.W. and Steele, D.H. (1990) The fourbeard rockling, Enchelyopus cimbrius (L.), in eastern Newfoundland. Journal of Fish Biology 37, 803–811.Google Scholar
Lewis, D.B. (1976) Studies of biology of lesser weever fish Trachinus vipera Cuvier. 1. Adaptations to a benthic habit. Journal of Fish Biology 8, 127–138.Google Scholar
Lewis, D.B. (1980) Studies of the biology of the lesser weever fish, Trachinus vipera Cuvier. 2. Distribution. Journal of Fish Biology 17, 127–133.Google Scholar
Lopacinski, B., Bak, M., Fiszer, M., Czerniak, P. and Krakowiak, A. (2009) Poisoning with weever fish venom: a case report. Przegl Lek 66, 464–465.Google ScholarPubMed
Nash, R.D.M. and Santos, R.S. (1993) The occurrence of the lesser weever in the Azores. Journal of Fish Biology 43, 317–319.Google Scholar
Pearce, B. (2008) The significance of benthic communities for higher levels of the marine food-web at aggregate dredge sites using the ecosystem approach. Bath: Marine Ecological Surveys, pp. 19–20.Google Scholar
Qasim, S.Z. (1957) The biology of Centronotus gunnellus (L.) (Teleostei). Journal of Animal Ecology 26, 389–401.Google Scholar
Tien, N., Tulp, I. and Grift, R. (2004) Baseline studies wind farm demersal fish. Commissioned by Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management. Amersfoort: RIKZ. TNO/RIVO/Royal Haskoning. Reference 9M9237/R00009/THIE/Gro.Google Scholar
Turnpenny, A.W.H., Utting, N.J., Millner, R.S. and Riley, J.D. (1983) The effect of fish impingement at Sizewell ‘A’ power station Suffolk on North Sea fish stocks. Fawley Research Laboratory, Central Electricity Generating Board.Google Scholar
Van Der Veer, H.W., Creutzberg, F., Dapper, R., Duineveld, G.C.A., Fonds, M., Kuipers, B.R., Van Noort, G.J. and Witte, J.I.J. (1990) On the ecology of the dragonet Callionymus lyra L. in the southern North Sea. Netherlands Journal of Sea Research 26, 139–150.Google Scholar
Vasconcelos, R., Prista, N., Cabral, H. and Costa, M.J. (2004) Feeding ecology of the lesser weever, Echiichthys vipera (Cuvier, 1829), on the western coast of Portugal. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 20, 211–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, A. (1969) The fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. London: Macmillan and Co.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A.C. (1978) Key to the fishes of northern Europe: a guide to the identification of more than 350 species. London: Warne.Google Scholar