ALBERT

Description: In 1988 and 1989 the occurrence of external diseases in fish from the German part of the Wadden Sea was quantified. Thirty-two stations, located along seven transects including four estuaries, were sampled monthly or at 3-month intervals with shrimp trawlers: more than 124 000 fish were studied. Six percent of the seven dominant fish species of 〉 12 cm length were diseased. In fish species which complete their life cycle in the Wadden Sea (gobies, hooknose, eelpout, sea scorpion) the total disease incidence was below 0.4%. In whiting, plaice and sole it was between 0.5 and 2.5%, while 6–8% of smelt, cod, eel, dab and flounder suffered from external lesions. The incidence of most diseases increased with increasing fish length. Similar geographical patterns in prevalence were observed for: (1) two types of skeletal deformities, (2) lymphocystis in dab and flounder, (3) papillomatosis in smelt and dab and (4) several infectious ulcerative diseases. Most of these ulcerative diseases of cod and flounder occurred on central estuarine stations, suggesting an impact of the relatively low, but greatly variable salinity on disease development. Buccal granulomatosis of smelt and papillomatosis of eels showed the highest incidence in the Elbe estuary as the most heavily polluted region of the Wadden Sea. A causal relationship between disease development and pollution, however, is not yet clear and requires experimental evidence. The disease types found are ranked into three priority groups regarding their indicator value for a pollution monitoring on the basis of fish diseases. There is evidence that the total disease load of fish in the Wadden Sea is higher than in other shallow coastal regions outside the North Sea. Little is known of the effects of these diseases on single fish and fish populations. “Yellow pest” of cod, which was recorded for the first time during this survey, and which occurred with an incidence of up to 14% in single estuarine samples, causes the most serious lesions and is supposed to be lethal. In total, however, the effects of a number of pathogenic parasites on fish survival is considered to be more serious than that of deformities and infectious diseases.

Description: A joint research cruise (Japan-Argentina-Uruguay) was carried out in the South-western Atlantic during August-September 1989 in order to study the winter-spawning and hatchery areas of Illex argentinus, and also the migration pattern of the juveniles towards the continental shelf. A few Rhynchoteuthion larvae were found in subtropical waters of the Brazil Current, next to the Brazil-Malvinas confluence, and in the frontal zone with shelf water, but never at temperatures below 14°C. Large numbers of juveniles found in subantarctic waters (6–10°C) on the shelf were probably migrating southward from their hatchery grounds following the zooplankton concentrations on which they were feeding.

Description: Total biomass and biomass of large taxonomic groups (polychaetes, molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms) and species diversity of the macrofauna were determined for almost 200 North Sea stations sampled synoptically by seven vessels during Spring 1986 and for 120 additional stations sampled in earlier years by the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen. There exists a clear and significant decreasing trend in biomass with latitude, both in total biomass and for the different taxonomic groups. Apart from latitude, sediment composition and chlorophyll a content of the sediment also infuence total biomass and biomass of most groups significantly. Biomass increases consistently in finer sediments and sediments with a higher chlorophyll a content. The same trends are found for the results within laboratories. Some interaction exists, indicating weak laboratory and zonal effects. Diversity, as measured by Hill's diversity index N1 = (exp H′) shows a clear and significant trend with latitude. Towards the north of the North Sea diversity increases considerably. The trend is also found for laboratories separately and is everywhere equally strong. Also longitude and depth show an effect on diversity. Sediment variables have no clear influence on diversity. Other diversity measures show the same trend but are more variable than N1,. Total density tends to increase towards the north, but sediment related variables have a larger influence. Mean individual weight becomes considerably smaller towards the northern part of the North Sea.

Description: In 1986 participants of the Benthos Ecology Working Group of ICES conducted a synoptic mapping of the infauna of the southern and central North Sea. Together with a mapping of the infauna of the northern North Sea by Eleftheriou and Basford (1989) this provides the database for the description of the benthic infauna of the whole North Sea in this paper. Division of the infauna into assemblages by TWINSPAN analysis separated northern assemblages from southern assemblages along the 70 m depth contour. Assemblages were further separated by the 30, 50 m and 100 m depth contour as well as by the sediment type. In addition to widely distributed species, cold water species do not occur further south than the northern edge of the Dogger Bank, which corresponds to the 50 m depth contour. Warm water species were not found north of the 100 m depth contour. Some species occur on all types of sediment but most are restricted to a special sedimentand therefore these species are limited in their distribution. The factors structuring species distributions and assemblages seem to be temperature, the influence of different water masses, e.g. Atlantic water, the type of sediment and the food supply to the benthos. Eleftheriou, A. and Basford, D. J. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 69: 123–143.

Description: Two biochemical methods for measuring larval fish condition – tryptic enzyme activity and RNA/DNA ratio measurement - were applied to laboratory-reared and wild-caught herring larvae. The comparison of both methods when applied to laboratory-reared herring larvae showed that tryptic enzyme activity and RNA/DNA ratio are linear and positively correlated under constant nutritional conditions. Wild-caught larvae were transferred to the laboratory and used to compare both indicators in relation to shortterm changes in food availability and long-term starvation periods (13 days). In the starvation experiments with the wild-caught larvae the lowest trypsin values were obtained after 3–4 days and a significant decrease in RNA/DNA ratios was obtained after 5–6 days. Prolongation of the starvation time did not result in a further significant change in either parameter. The results of the study demonstrate the usefulness of both methods in monitoring nutritional condition offish larvae in field samples.