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Reproductive biology of Patagonotothen ramsayi (Regan, 1913) (Pisces: Nototheniidae) around the Falkland Islands

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Abstract

The reproductive biology of one of the most abundant notothenioids, Patagonotothen ramsayi, was investigated between February 2003 and November 2004 on the Falkland and Patagonian Shelves (Southwest Atlantic). Male and female P. ramsayi were mature at 27.6 and 24.8 cm L T, respectively. P. ramsayi is a total spawner, with a total fecundity ranging between 24,300 and 76,700 eggs. Spawning occurs on the shelf breaks between June and August with the peak in gonado-somatic indices in June. Analysis of length frequency distributions over the year and sex ratios of mature fish during the spawning season may indicate the presence of a nesting and nest guarding behaviour in male fish, similar to other rockcods. Features of its reproductive strategy, which enabled P. ramsayi to dominate the medium-sized demersal fishes on the Patagonian shelf are discussed and compared with those of other nototheniids and cottid sculpins from the Northern Hemisphere.

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Acknowledgements

We would particularly like to thank Mr. José R. Fuertes Gamundi, from Vigo Shipowners Co-operative (ARVI), the main co-ordinator of the EU sixth Frame Work CRAFT Project entitled “Promoting Higher Added Value to a Finfish Species rejected to Sea” (Proposal No. CRAF–1999–71709) and the EU for funding this project. We would also like to thank the FIFD observers Mick Hatterlsey, Duncan Brake, Jorge Torrens, Sam Clark, Sandra Cordes, Oli Yates, Sarah Crofts, and Teresa Athayde for their help in collecting samples, and the observer co-ordinator, Joost Pompert, for the data management. Finally, we thank Stephen Brouwer and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.

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Brickle, P., Laptikhovsky, V., Arkhipkin, A. et al. Reproductive biology of Patagonotothen ramsayi (Regan, 1913) (Pisces: Nototheniidae) around the Falkland Islands. Polar Biol 29, 570–580 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0090-5

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