Skip Navigation


ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on June 22, 2007
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2007 64(6):1136-1144; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsm080
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
64/6/1136    most recent
fsm080v1
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 Brophy, D.
Right arrow Articles by King, P. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Brophy, D.
Right arrow Articles by King, P. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2007 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Larval otolith growth histories show evidence of stock structure in Northeast Atlantic blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou)

Deirdre Brophy and Pauline A. King

Commercial Fisheries Research Group, Department of Life Sciences, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland

Correspondence to D. Brophy: tel: +353 91 742484; fax: +353 91 758412; e-mail: deirdre.brophy{at}gmit.ie

Brophy, D., and King, P. A. 2007. Larval otolith growth histories show evidence of stock structure in Northeast Atlantic blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1136–1144.

Oceanographic modelling studies suggest that blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) larvae released on the Northeast Atlantic spawning grounds split into two branches, one following a northerly drift trajectory and the second drifting towards the south. This mechanism is proposed to restrict gene flow between northern and southern stock components. This study examined larval growth histories recorded in otoliths of adult blue whiting from three regions of the main spawning area and three feeding areas for evidence of divergent dispersal pathways. Increment measurements show that fish from the south of the spawning area on average grew significantly faster as larvae than those from the north of the spawning area, confirming that blue whiting spawning west of Ireland and Scotland do not form a randomly mixing unit, and that larval dispersal influences the subsequent distribution of spawning adults. Larval otolith growth rates in feeding blue whiting from the Bay of Biscay were significantly faster than those of fish from the Norwegian Sea feeding grounds, showing that mixing of fish from these areas is limited. Fish from the Bay of Biscay grew faster as larvae than fish from all regions of the main spawning area. The results support the proposed split in the blue whiting stock and signal caution for managing the fishery.

Keywords: blue whiting, larval dispersal, Micromesistius poutassou, otolith microstructure, population structure, stock identification

Received 22 September 2006; accepted 10 May 2007; advance access publication 22 June 2007.


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


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ICES J. Mar. Sci.Home page
A. Was, E. Gosling, K. McCrann, and J. Mork
Evidence for population structuring of blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) in the Northeast Atlantic
ICES J. Mar. Sci., March 1, 2008; 65(2): 216 - 225.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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.