Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mesopelagic fishes of the Bering Sea and adjacent northern North Pacific Ocean

  • Published:
Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Fourteen midwater trawl collections to depths of 450 m to 1,400 m were taken at eleven stations in the Bering Sea and adjoining regions of the northern North Pacific by the R/V Hakuho Maru during the summer of 1975. A total of 29 kinds of fishes were identified. Mesopelagic fishes of the families Myctophidae, Gonostomatidae and Bathylagidae predominated in the catches, contributing 14 species (94%) of the fishes caught.

Seventeen species of fishes were caught in the Bering Sea, and all of these are known from nearby areas. The mesopelagic fish fauna of the Bering Sea is similar to that in adjoining regions of the northern North Pacific Ocean: endemic species are rare or absent.

Stenobrachius nannochir was usually the most common mesopelagic fish in our catches.Stenobrachius leucopsarus is a diel vertical migrant that is usually the dominant mesopelagic fish in modified Subarctic waters of the northeastern Pacific. The change in dominance fromS. nannochir in the western Bering Sea toS. leucopsarus in the eastern Bering Sea is related to differences in oceanographic conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aron, W. (1960): The distribution of animals in the Eastern North Pacific and its relationship to physical and chemical conditions. Dept. of Oceanography, Univ. of Washington, Tech. Rep., (63), 65 pp. and appendix.

  • Aron, W. (1962): The distribution of animals in the Eastern North Pacific and its relationship to physical and chemical conditions. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada,19, 271–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekker, V.E. (1967): Lanternfishes (fam. Myctophidae).In, The Pacific Ocean. The Biology of the Pacific Ocean. Book III. ed. by V. G.Kort, pp. 174–197. (U. S. Naval Oceanogr. Office Translation 528).

  • Ebeling, A.W. (1962): Melamphaidae I. Systematics and zoogeography of the species in the bathypelagic fish genusMelanphaes Günther. Dana Rep.,58, 1–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Favorite, R. (1974): Flow into the Bering Sea through Aleutian Island passes.In, Oceanography of the Bering Sea. ed. byD.W. Hood andE.J. Kelley, Univ. Alaska, Fairbanks, pp. 3–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedorov, V.V. (1973a): Ichthyofauna of the continental slope of the Bering Sea and some aspects of its origin and formation. Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Rybn. Khoz. Okeanogr.,87, 3–41. (Transl. Series No. 3345, Fish. Mar. Serv. Canada).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedorov, V.V. (1973b): A list of Bering Sea fish. Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Rybn. Khoz. Okeanogr.,87, 42–71. (Transl. Series No. 3271, Fish. Mar. Serv. Canada).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, J. L. (1973): Pacific Fishes of Canada. Fish Res. Bd. Canada. Bull., 180, 740 pp.

  • Hattori, A. (editor) (1977): Hydrographic characteristics of studied sea areas. Prelim. Rep. Hakuho Maru Cruise KH-75-4. Ocean Res. Inst. Univ. Tokyo, 87 pp.

  • Hughes, F.W., L.K. Coachman andK. Aagaard. (1974): Circulation, transport and water exchange in the western Bering Sea.In, Oceanography of the Bering Sea. ed. byD.W. Hood andE.J. Kelley, Univ. Alaska, Fairbanks, pp. 59–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R.K. (1974): A revision of the Alepisauroid family Scopelarchidae (Pisces, Myctophiformes). Fieldiana (zool.),66, 1–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawaguchi, K. (1973): Biology ofGonostoma gracile Günther (Gonostomatidae) II. Geographical and vertical distribution. J. Oceanogr. Soc. Japan,29, 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulikova, E.B. (1960): The lampanyctids (genusLampanyctus) of the Fareastern seas and of the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,31, 166–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makushok, V.M. (1970): Data on fishes collected in the area of the Kurile-Kamchatka Trench on the 39th cruise of the R/V 〈Vityaz〉 in the summer of 1966. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,86, 513–535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhacheva, V.A. (1964): On the genusCyclothone (Gonostomatidae, Pisces) of the Pacific Ocean. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,73, 98–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhacheva, V.A. (1967): Bristle mouth (genusCyclothone, fam. Gonostomatidae).In, The Pacific Ocean. The Biology of the Pacific Ocean. Book III. ed. by V.G.Kort, pp. 198–220. (U. S. Naval Oceanogr. Office Translation 528).

  • Parin, N.V. (1961): The distribution of deep-sea fishes in the upper bathypelagic layer of the Subarctic Waters of the Northern Pacific Ocean. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,45, 259–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearcy, W.G. (1964): Some distributional features of mesopelagic fishes off Oregon. J. Mar. Res.,22, 83–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearcy, W.G. (1977): Variations in abundance of sound scattering animals off Oregon.In, Oceanic Sound Scattering, ed. byN.R. Anderson andB.J. Zahuranec, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 647–666.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearcy, W.G., E.E. Krygier, R. Mesecar, andR. Ramsey (1977): Vertical distribution and migration of oceanic micronekton off Oregon. Deep-Sea Res.,24, 223–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rass, T.S. (1955): Deep-Sea fishes of the Kurile-Kamchatka Trench. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,12, 328–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rass, T.S. andA.A. Kashkina (1967): Bathypelagic fishes of the Northern Pacific (Pisces, Bathylagidae). Trudy Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR,84, 209–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shmidt, P. Yu. (1950): Fishes of the Sea of Okhotsk, lzdatel'stuo Akad. Nauk SSSR, 392 pp. (Trans. Israel Prog. Sci. Trans. 1965).

  • Smoker, W. andW.G. Pearcy (1970): Growth and reproduction of the lanternfishStenobrachius leucopsarus. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada,27, 1265–1275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takenouti, A.Y. andK. Ohtani (1974): Currents and water masses in the Bering Sea: A review of Japanese work.In, Oceanography of the Bering Sea. ed. byD.W. Hood andE.J. Kelley, Univ. Alaska, Fairbanks, pp. 39–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ueno, T. (1971): List of the marine fishes from the waters of Hokkaido and its adjacent regions. Sci. Rep. Hokkaido Fish. Experimental Station,13, 61–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisner, R. L. (1976): The taxonomy and distribution of lanternfishes (fam. Myctophidae) of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Navy Ocean Res. and Develop. Activity Rep., No. 3, 229 pp.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, 97331, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

    William G. Pearcy

  2. Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan

    Takahisa Nemoto & Muneo Okiyama

Authors
  1. William G. Pearcy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Takahisa Nemoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muneo Okiyama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pearcy, W.G., Nemoto, T. & Okiyama, M. Mesopelagic fishes of the Bering Sea and adjacent northern North Pacific Ocean. Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 35, 127–135 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02114305

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02114305

Keywords

Search

Navigation