Meristic Composition of Sand Lance ( Ammodytes spp.) in Newfoundland Waters with a Review of Species Designations in the Northwest Atlantic

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Winters, G. H., Dalley, E. L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1988
• Subjects: Greenland; Newfoundland; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f88-061; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f88-061

Examination of new meristic data on sand lance (Ammodytes spp.) populations in Newfoundland coastal waters using a combination of discriminant function and modal analyses demonstrates for the first time that co-occurrence is a common feature of the distribution of the two species (A. dubius and A. americanus) provisionally considered to exist in the Northwest Atlantic. In addition, the consistency in the meristic counts of A. dubius between the offshore and inshore samples and the postulated spawning of A. dubius in Newfoundland coastal waters provides good evidence that A. dubius is reproductively isolated from A. americanus. Reanalysis of published data on the vertebral composition of sand lance in the Northwest Atlantic confirms the co-occurrence of A. americanus and A. dubius in inshore areas from West Greenland southwards to the Gulf of Maine. These new analyses taken together with a review of the major distinguishing characteristics of sand lance species in the North Atlantic waters lead us to conclude that the heterogeneous assemblage of sand lance found inshore from West Greenland southwards and offshore from Georges Bank southwards and which has traditionally been classified as A. americanus belongs to a single trans-Atlantic species, A. marinus.