Fish larvae in Bahía Sebastián Vizcaíno and the adjacent oceanic region, Baja California, México

Abstract

The taxonomic composition of the fish larvae assemblage of Bahía Sebastián Vizcaíno and the adjacent oceanic region is presented based on oblique zooplankton hauls made during 12 oceanographic surveys between fall 1997 and fall 2000. In total, 186 taxa representing 71 families were collected. Myctophidae, Phosichthyidae, and Engraulidae were the most abundant during winter and Myctophidae, Merlucciidae, and Bathylagidae during spring. In summer and fall Phosichthyidae and Myctophidae were the most abundant. During 1999 and 2000, seasonal variability was identified in the area by the fish larvae composition, defining winter and fall as a low diversity period and spring and summer as a high diversity period. Interannual variability was detected with an El Niño event, with higher larval abundances of tropical and subtropical taxa, and a La Niña event, with high abundances of larvae of Engraulis mordax.

Distribution and abundance of the ichthyoplankton assemblages and its relationships with the geostrophic flow along the southern region of the California Current

“…The total number of taxa identified to species level was 99 for summer and 74 for winter (Jiménez-Rosenberg et al, 2007. However, the most abundant and frequent species were 21 for summer and 23 for winter which together represented more than 90% of the total abundance for each season ( Table 1).…”

“…1) according to their meristic characteristics and their pigmentation patterns. A detailed description of the species composition and abundance of fish larvae for each survey is found in Jiménez-Rosenberg et al (2007. In this work, the database used corresponds to the most abundant species (85% of the total larvae collected), as well as those species that although not abundant, were present in at least 15% of the sampled stations in each survey.…”

Mesopelagic fish larval assemblages during El Niño-southern oscillation (1997-2001) in the southern part of the California Current

“…During El Niño, a northern presence of tropical coastal pelagic species and oceanic taxa around Punta Eugenia ( Opisthonema sp., Etrumeus teres, Chloroscombrus orqueta, D. laternatus ) was notable (Jiménez‐Rosenberg et al. , 2007).…”

“…, 1987; Funes‐Rodríguez et al. , 2002, 2006; Jiménez‐Rosenberg et al. , 2007), and increased numbers of fishes of Panamic affinity were present during El Niño 1997–1998 (Lea and Rosenblatt, 2000).…”

“…, 1983; Moser et al. , 1993; Jiménez‐Rosenberg et al. , 2007) related to shifts in oceanic currents and interannual variability related to the intensity of El Niño or La Niña events (Moser et al.…”