Benthic Boundary Layer Macrofauna of Browns Bank, Northwest Atlantic, as Potential Prey of Juvenile Benthic Fish

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Wildish, D. J., Wilson, A. J., Frost, B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1992
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Browns; Northwest Atlantic; Copepods
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f92-011; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f92-011

A first quantitative description is provided of the drifting or swimming macrofauna present within the benthic boundary layer (BBL) over the hard sediments of Browns Bank in the northwest Atlantic. Major categories of identified animals include drift epi- or infauna, zooplankters, fish larvae and eggs, and suprabenthic animals. Suprabenthic amphipods were good indicators of the type of sediment/flow environment that they were associated with. Although zooplanktonic copepods were by far the most abundant and suprabenthos the most diverse group of the BBL macrofauna, they appear to be ignored as a source of food by juvenile haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), which are known to feed on prey classified herein either as in situ, or drifted, epi- or infauna. Unfortunately, the BBL sled used in our study could not sample animals at < 33 cm from the sediment–water interface. Our results imply that juvenile haddock feed either directly on animals living in, or at the sediment interface, or on drifting animals present within the BBL at heights < 33 cm above the bottom