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A nursery area for the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum at Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea): first estimate of distribution and abundance of eggs and larvae under the seasonal sea-ice

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Abstract

Pleuragramma antarcticum is the dominant pelagic fish in the waters of the continental shelf in high Antarctic regions, where it plays a key role in the food web. A nursery ground for eggs of this species was first identified in 2002 in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea), where eggs were found trapped in ice platelets under the sea-ice during the spring. As part of a monitoring program aimed at understanding the geographic and temporal characteristics of this nursery ground, the present study reports on surveys carried out in the austral springs of 2005 and 2006 using a simple and effective method for sampling from the sea-ice. These surveys enabled the evaluation of the spatial range of the nursery area of the Antarctic silverfish in the sea-ice of the coastal area of Victoria Land between the Coulman Island and the Drygalski Glacier Tongue. P. antarcticum eggs were concentrated in an area of Terra Nova Bay of about 270 km2, encompassing two adjacent sites, Gerlache Inlet and Silverfish Bay. The present results add information on life cycle and hatching period of the Antarctic silverfish and confirm the importance of the Terra Nova Bay as a nursery area for this important species. Moreover, the survey points to the sea-ice cover and platelet ice as important environmental features of the nursery area.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out within the project ECOFISH, supported by Italian National Programme for Research in Antarctica (PNRA project 2004/8.04). We thank John MacDonald for his input and Mike Taler and Federico Mazzei for their help and companionship in the field. Sara Ferrando helped in the preparation of figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), c/o Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide, Università di Genova, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, 16132, Genoa, Italy

    Marino Vacchi & Massimiliano Bottaro

  2. Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 524 Burrill Hall, 407 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Arthur L. DeVries

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Clive W. Evans

  4. DipTeRis, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 5, 16132, Genoa, Italy

    Laura Ghigliotti, Laura Cutroneo & Eva Pisano

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  1. Marino Vacchi
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  2. Arthur L. DeVries
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  4. Massimiliano Bottaro
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  7. Eva Pisano
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Correspondence to Marino Vacchi.

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Vacchi, M., DeVries, A.L., Evans, C.W. et al. A nursery area for the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum at Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea): first estimate of distribution and abundance of eggs and larvae under the seasonal sea-ice. Polar Biol 35, 1573–1585 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1199-y

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