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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2004 61(6):966-971; doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2004.06.008
© 2004 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
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Spatial feeding patterns of herring (Clupea harengus L.), sprat (Sprattus sprattus L.), and the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea

Heikki Peltonena,*, Mika Vinnib, Antti Lappalainenc and Jukka Pönnic

a Finnish Environment Institute PO Box 140, FIN-00251 Helsinki, Finland
b Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences PO Box 65, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
c Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute PO Box 6, FIN-00721 Helsinki, Finland

*Correspondence to H. Peltonen: tel: +358 (0)9 40 300 236, fax: +358 (0)9 40 300 291. e-mail: heikki.peltonen{at}ymparisto.fi.

The pelagic-fish fauna in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea was sampled by trawling and hydroacoustics in September 2002. Spatial and size/age-dependent patterns in the diets of herring (Clupea harengus), sprat (Sprattus sprattus), and the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) were explored. At night the fish concentrated at thermocline depth but at dawn they scattered over a larger depth range. All three fish species fed on mesozooplankton but nektobenthos, for example, was scarce. In the eastern Gulf of Finland, where there is a strong freshwater inflow, the cladoceran Bosmina longispina was the dominant prey item, but it was also abundant in the diets of young-of-the-year (total length <10 cm) clupeids in the western Gulf of Finland. In these more saline western areas, calanoid copepods, especially Eurytemora affinis, were the most important prey for large (≥10 cm) clupeids. The large clupeids in particular, also fed on Temora longicornis. The diet of three-spined stickleback overlapped with that of the clupeids. However, Cercopagis pengoi, a recent arrival to the area, was much more abundant in the diet of stickleback than in the diet of clupeids.

Keywords: Baltic Sea, Gulf of Finland, feeding, herring, sprat, three-spined stickleback

Received 12 August 2003; accepted 15 June 2004.


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