Abstract
A seasonal study of the inshore fish community was conducted in 1981 and 1982 at two stations in Málaga Bay (SE Spain). A total of 66 fish species were caught. Two families, Clupeidae (68.6%) and Engraulidae (28.5%), dominated in numbers, and Carangidae (54.3%) and Sparidae (29.1%) in biomass for both zones. There were two periods of high fish density in each zone: winter (2.2 g m-2) and autumn (2.0 g m-2) in the western zone and spring (2.95 g m-2) and summer (3.6 g m-2) in the eastern zone. Species diversity was relatively high during spring (2.95 and 3.00) and summer (2.32 and 2.44), showing clear variation with other zones of the Spanish coasts. An increase in diversity and number of fish species from north to south was observed. The area studied (0 to 15 m deep) serves as a nursery for larvae and young fish of several species appearing in the catches. The zoogeographical affinities of the fish species caught are: tropicals 25.7%, boreals 24.2%, Iberian-Moroccan 14%, endemics 4.5%.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe
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Reina-Hervás, J.A., Serrano, P. Structural and seasonal variations of inshore fish populations in Málaga Bay, Southeastern Spain. Mar. Biol. 95, 501–508 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393093
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393093