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• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Key words; Greenland halibut; meristics; vertebral count; stock delineation; Greenland; Davis Strait
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.494.8263; http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/1/75.full.pdf

uit rd en ee 89 an significant diVerences in mean vertebral numbers. Previous studies in 1987–1989, however, showed significant diVerences in mean vertebral counts between some of the same areas. Inter-annual variation in vertebral numbers is therefore suggested to be greater than the variation between sample areas. Despite the protracted egg and larval stage of Greenland halibut, the currents along the West Coast of Greenland are unlikely to transport juveniles in any significant amount from the Davis Strait spawning grounds to the North-west Greenland fjords. The origin of the northernmost populations therefore remains unknown. As single cohorts in the material seem to aVect the total average counts per area significantly it is suggested that a change in the distribution of Greenland halibut might have occurred during the period studied. The results also emphasize the importance of relying on data based on more than one year and question the suitability of vertebral counts in stock delineation studies of Greenland halibut.