Skip Navigation

ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2006 63(5):912-927; doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2006.03.011
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hinz, H.
Right arrow Articles by Rogers, S. I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Hinz, H.
Right arrow Articles by Rogers, S. I.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2006 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea

Habitat association of plaice, sole, and lemon sole in the English Channel

Hilmar Hinza,*, Melanie Bergmanna,1, Richard Shucksmitha, Michel J. Kaisera and Stuart I. Rogersb

a School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Askew Street, Menai Bridge LL59 5AB, Wales UK
b The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Pakefield Road, Lowestoft NR33 0HT, Suffolk, England, UK

*Correspondence to H. Hinz: current address: Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, England, UK; tel: +44 1752 633334; fax: +44 1752 633102. e-mail: hlhi{at}mba.ac.uk.

Flatfish have been the subject of scientific research since the beginning of the 19th century, but information on specific habitat requirements of adult life stages is incomplete. This study investigates the association between benthic habitat and the adult life stage of three flatfish species (plaice, sole, and lemon sole). Data from groundfish surveys spanning nine years were used to identify three distinct site groups: sites where a species was consistently abundant, sites of variable or low abundance, and sites at which no fish were caught. We hypothesize that these three site groups should represent a gradient in habitat suitability from highly suitable to unsuitable. Habitat parameters for each site group and species are described and analysed. Besides large-scale physical parameters, the importance of structuring epifauna and prey availability was investigated. Plaice and sole showed similar trends for most abiotic parameters, whereas lemon sole was found over distinctly different habitats. Sediment associations differed between the three species. No clear association was found between flatfish abundance, structuring epifauna, and prey availability within this study. Contradictory results between prey abundance assessed by grab samples and the nutritive state of plaice suggested that the sampling scale used might have been inappropriate to determine prey availability accurately. Plaice appear to sample prey more effectively at the appropriate spatial scales, so the nutritive state of the fish might be a more reliable indicator for prey availability and thus habitat quality.

Keywords: emergent epifauna, English Channel, flatfish, habitat selection, prey availability, stomach contents

Received 4 August 2004; accepted 23 March 2006.

1 Present address: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.