Trophic ecology of demersal fish community north of the South Shetland Islands, with notes on the ecological role of the krill

• Main Author: Masanori Takahashi
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center 1983
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; South Shetland Islands; Antarc*; Euphausia superba; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1443; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00001443/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1443&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Bottom trawls at 8 stations and at depths from about 200 to 400m were carried out to the north of the South Shetland Islands. Thirty-six species of fish belonging to 9 families were caught. Notothenia gibberifrons, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, Gymnoscopelus nicholsi and 2 Rajidae made up about 80% of the number of fish caught. The dominant species was N. gibberifrons accounting for 51.9% of the total number of individuals and 44.7% of the total weight. It is shown that the krill (Euphausia superba, DANA) is an important food item in the diet of these demersal fish and that while many nototheniid species supplement their diet with benthic organisms, channichthyid species supplement their diets with other fish. The significance of these results is discussed in relation to the distribution of the krill and to the ecological role of the krill in the Antarctic food chain.