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• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: capelin; habitat selection; hydroacoustics; Newfoundland; vertical distri- bution; atlantic cod
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.497.8475; http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/5/942.full.pdf

lin 94 ng th s be m th ter distribution was examined with regard to potential habitat-selection factors, includ-ing capelin density, water temperature, fish size, maturity stage, and proximity of predators. Of these, only fish density and predator (Atlantic cod) presence were significant. Capelin occupied more of the water column when their density was high than when it was low, and they were found farther from the seabed in areas with cod than without. Results indicate that, during the 1990s, capelin should have been able to optimize vertical distribution and feeding. This is not consistent with reports of poorer capelin condition and size-at-age in the 1990s, suggesting that vertical distributions are likely a result of changes in other factors, such as prey availability.