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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on February 28, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(8):1688-1695; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp028
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© 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: Herring: linking biology, ecology, and status of populations in the context of changing environments [View the issue table of contents]

Advances in herring biology: from simple to complex, coping with plasticity and adaptability

Audrey J. Geffen

Department of Biology, University of Bergen, PO Box 7800, 5020 Bergen, Norway

tel: +47 5558 4435; fax: +47 5558 4450; e-mail: audrey.geffen{at}bio.uib.no

Geffen, A. J. 2009. Advances in herring biology: from simple to complex, coping with plasticity and adaptability. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1688–1695.

At least two centuries of investigations on herring have been absorbed by scientific journals, and applied and basic research has produced groundbreaking concepts in fisheries, population biology, and marine ecology. By the 1970s, a firm understanding of herring biology formed the basis for more sophisticated research. At that point, herring populations had been delineated, and their migration patterns described. The reproduction and early stage biology were characterized in ways that could be applied to fisheries management. However, over the subsequent four decades, new approaches and technology overturned many of the earlier findings. Behavioural studies revealed a repertoire of patterns that extended the concept of schooling, and genetic analyses showed high levels of stock mixing. Application of otolith analysis to larval, juvenile, and adult fish revealed the scope of plasticity in growth and life-history strategies. Developments in physiological research have revealed that herring are not "primitive", as once believed, but highly adaptable in their nutrition and metabolism. These advances fundamentally changed our view of herring, and the resulting challenge is to synthesize current knowledge to help explain the significance of adaptability and plasticity in its flexible life history.

Keywords: adaptability, Clupea harengus, larval biology, parental effects, plasticity, population mixing, reproduction

Received 13 October 2008; accepted 20 January 2009; advance access publication 28 February 2009.


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