Diets of clupeoid, stomiatoid and salmonoid fish of the Rockall Trough, northeastern Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

The trophic interactions of species of fish of the continental slopes have not been investigated previously in detail. The present study examines the diets of the clupeoid, stomiatoid and salmonoid species occurring demersally and pelagically in the Rockall Trough to the west of Scotland and Ireland. Pelagic fish were collected between the surface and about 2 500-m depth between 1973 and 1978. Demersal fish were sampled at 250-m intervals of depths between 500- and 2 900-m depth during the years 1975 and 1981. Of the 28 species caught, 18 were strictly pelagic and dominated by the stomiatoids while five were strictly demersal. The remaining five species occurred in both the pelagic and demersal environment. The commonest clupeoid was Alepocephalus bairdii, which is a dominant species within the demersal fish associations at depths of 750 to 1 250m. This species, along with the deeper-living A. agassizi, and 3 other alepocephalid species feed primarily on benthopelagic prey but also exploit the epibenthos. The stomiatoid species, such as Cyclothone microdon, C. braueri, Maurolicus muelleri and Argyropelecus hemigymnus, dominate the associations of pelagic fish in the Trough. They feed on different proportions of ostracods, copepods and amphipods. Of the salmonoids, only Argentina silus and Bathylagus euryops occurred commonly and both feed on benthopelagic fauna, the latter at much greater depths than the former. The principal factor acting to prevent direct competition between species is the modal centres of bathymetric distribution of the species. Other contributing factors are briefly discussed.