Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs
The herring stock in the North Sea in recent years has recovered to a relatively high biomass, and here we investigate prey selection of individual North Sea herring when population numbers are high. The diet composition, and specifically pelagic fish eggs, was investigated in February 2004. Samples...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/352488 2024-01-14T10:06:58+01:00 Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs Segers, F.H.I.D. Dickey-Collas, M. Rijnsdorp, A.D. 2007 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/prey-selection-by-north-sea-herring-clupea-harengus-with-special- https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/29688 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/prey-selection-by-north-sea-herring-clupea-harengus-with-special- doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Wageningen University & Research ICES Journal of Marine Science 64 (2007) 1 ISSN: 1054-3139 baltic sea climate cod gadus-morhua food irish sea plaice pleuronectes-platessa predation size sprattus-sprattus zooplankton info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2007 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 2023-12-20T23:19:39Z The herring stock in the North Sea in recent years has recovered to a relatively high biomass, and here we investigate prey selection of individual North Sea herring when population numbers are high. The diet composition, and specifically pelagic fish eggs, was investigated in February 2004. Samples of herring from the International Bottom Trawl Survey were used for stomach analysis, and ichthyoplankton samples from the southern North Sea were used to investigate selection. Crustaceans were the main diet component. The average diameter of the fish eggs recovered from the stomachs was significantly larger than that of the eggs collected in the field. In addition, the frequency at which the latest developmental stages occurred in the herring stomachs was significantly different from the frequency at which these stages were found in the field. This shows selective foraging. There was a relationship between the amount of food and the number of eggs in a herring stomach: the fullest stomachs tended to contain fewer fish eggs. This suggests that herring forage on eggs when other prey are not available. Hence, it is likely that the dynamics of multiple trophic levels influence the ecological impact of a large herring stock on the North Sea ecosystem. Article in Journal/Newspaper Gadus morhua Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library ICES Journal of Marine Science 64 1 60 68 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
baltic sea climate cod gadus-morhua food irish sea plaice pleuronectes-platessa predation size sprattus-sprattus zooplankton |
spellingShingle |
baltic sea climate cod gadus-morhua food irish sea plaice pleuronectes-platessa predation size sprattus-sprattus zooplankton Segers, F.H.I.D. Dickey-Collas, M. Rijnsdorp, A.D. Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
topic_facet |
baltic sea climate cod gadus-morhua food irish sea plaice pleuronectes-platessa predation size sprattus-sprattus zooplankton |
description |
The herring stock in the North Sea in recent years has recovered to a relatively high biomass, and here we investigate prey selection of individual North Sea herring when population numbers are high. The diet composition, and specifically pelagic fish eggs, was investigated in February 2004. Samples of herring from the International Bottom Trawl Survey were used for stomach analysis, and ichthyoplankton samples from the southern North Sea were used to investigate selection. Crustaceans were the main diet component. The average diameter of the fish eggs recovered from the stomachs was significantly larger than that of the eggs collected in the field. In addition, the frequency at which the latest developmental stages occurred in the herring stomachs was significantly different from the frequency at which these stages were found in the field. This shows selective foraging. There was a relationship between the amount of food and the number of eggs in a herring stomach: the fullest stomachs tended to contain fewer fish eggs. This suggests that herring forage on eggs when other prey are not available. Hence, it is likely that the dynamics of multiple trophic levels influence the ecological impact of a large herring stock on the North Sea ecosystem. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Segers, F.H.I.D. Dickey-Collas, M. Rijnsdorp, A.D. |
author_facet |
Segers, F.H.I.D. Dickey-Collas, M. Rijnsdorp, A.D. |
author_sort |
Segers, F.H.I.D. |
title |
Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
title_short |
Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
title_full |
Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
title_fullStr |
Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prey selection by North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
title_sort |
prey selection by north sea herring (clupea harengus) with special reference to fish eggs |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/prey-selection-by-north-sea-herring-clupea-harengus-with-special- https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 |
genre |
Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
Gadus morhua |
op_source |
ICES Journal of Marine Science 64 (2007) 1 ISSN: 1054-3139 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/29688 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/prey-selection-by-north-sea-herring-clupea-harengus-with-special- doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsl002 |
container_title |
ICES Journal of Marine Science |
container_volume |
64 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
60 |
op_container_end_page |
68 |
_version_ |
1788061378889646080 |