The inshore fishes of Heard and McDonald Islands, Southern Indian Ocean

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Author: Williams, R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1983
• Subjects: Heard; Indian; Kerguelen; McDonald Islands; Scotia Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1983.tb02906.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.1983.tb02906.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1983.tb02906.x

Nine species of fishes are recorded from the inshore waters of Heard and M c Donald Islands. These records confirm the affinities of the fish fauna of these islands to that found at the nearest neighbouring islands, the Iles Kerguelen, 380 km to the north‐west on the same submarine plateau. Data on the stomach contents and gonad states of Notothenia coriiceps coriiceps, N. rossii rossii and Channichthys rhinoceratus show some differences from the same or related subspecies at other localities. Notothenia c. coriiceps shows more affinities in feeding and reproduction to N. c. neglecta from Terre Adelie, Antarctica, than to those from the Scotia Sea, in having a significant proportion of active benthic and benthoplank‐tonic invertebrates in its diet, in spawning in mid‐summer and in having a low relative gonad size. Channichthys rhinoceratus has a slightly more diverse diet and its spawning season is later than in the same species at Iles Kerguelen.