Larval and adult fish assemblages along the Northwest Passage: the shallow Kitikmeot and the ice-covered Parry Channel as potential barriers to dispersal

• Main Authors: Bouchard, Caroline, Geoffroy, Maxime, LeBlanc, Mathieu, Fortier, Louis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Bay; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Northwest Passage; Parry; Arctic Archipelago; Baffin; Beaufort Sea; Kitikmeot; Northwest passage; Parry Channel; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/91102; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/AS-2018-0003

Climate warming and sea ice decline are expected to increase fish population movements in the circumpolar Arctic, including across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA). Wanting information on present distribution, habitat uses, barriers to dispersal, and population connectivity along the Northwest Passage (NWP) hinders the management of fish in the North American Arctic. Pelagic trawl, bottom trawl and ichthyoplankton net collections from the US Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay between 2005 and 2017 are used to map fish distribution along the NWP and identify potential zoogeographic barriers. In the Kitikmeot (southern CAA), the combination of shallow depths, sub-zero temperatures and slow water circulation may represent a physical barrier reducing the dispersal of marine fish between western and eastern regions. In contrast, the Parry Channel (northern CAA) may exemplify a disappearing sea ice barrier as climate warming unfolds and allow new genetic exchanges. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author.