Records of deep water chondrichthyan fish caught on long-line in the Rockall Trough

A number of chondrichthyan fish species were caught on long-line in the Rockall Trough (north-east Atlantic) in 1997, which are first records for this area; Raja hyperborea, Raja kukujevi and Raja fullonica . The occurrence of R. hyperborea , usually found in colder boreal waters appears to be tempe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Main Author: Clarke, M.W.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2000
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315499002040
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315499002040
Description
Summary:A number of chondrichthyan fish species were caught on long-line in the Rockall Trough (north-east Atlantic) in 1997, which are first records for this area; Raja hyperborea, Raja kukujevi and Raja fullonica . The occurrence of R. hyperborea , usually found in colder boreal waters appears to be temperature related. The presence of the deep water squaliform shark Centrophorus uyato in the area was also confirmed and several species were caught at previously undocumented depths. The Rockall Trough is an extension of the North Atlantic deep environment (Mauchline, 1990). A long-line survey was undertaken in August 1997 on the eastern and southern slopes of the Rockall Trough (Figure 1), fishing gear and procedures are described by Connolly (1997). Identifications were undertaken by means of several texts (Compagno, 1984; Whitehead, et al., 1984; Stehmann, 1997). The specimens described below were lodged in the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) and the Hamburg University Zoological Museum, Germany (ZMH). Depth ranges, positions and catalogue numbers of the specimens described are given in Table 1.