The ichthyofaunal composition of the Elbe Estuary: an analysis in space and time |
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Authors: | R Thiel I C Potter |
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Institution: | University of Hamburg, Institute of Hydrobiology and Fishery Science, Elbelab, Gro?e Elbstra?e 268, 22767 Hamburg, Germany e-mail: rthiel@uni-hamburg.de, DE School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia, AU
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Abstract: | A stow net (90 m2 opening) was used, at regular intervals between July 1989 and June 1993, to collect fish over ca. 4 h on both the flood and
ebb tides at five sites distributed at regularly spaced distances throughout the Elbe Estuary. Overall, 53.4% of the species
were marine, and some of these were abundant, e.g.Clupea harengus, Pleuronectes flesus, Pomatoschistus minutus, Merlangius merlangus and Sprattus sprattus. However, in terms of number of individuals, such species contributed only 9.1%, compared with 90.0% by anadromous species,
which was predominantly due to exceptionally high catches of Osmerus eperlanus. The ichthyofaunal compositions on the flood and ebb tides were similar, even downstream where salinities change markedly
during each tidal cycle. Although this is probably due in part to groups of fish being swept first upstream on the flood tide
and then back downstream on the ebb tide, several species clearly tended to occupy particular regions of the estuary. Each
year the species composition changed sequentially from the most downstream site (max. salinity=ca. 31.4‰) to the most upstream
site (max. salinity=ca. 1.5‰), mainly as a result of a sequential decline in the number and abundance of marine species and
a progressive increase in the contributions of both anadromous and freshwater species. However, the marine species diagnostic
of differences in the compositions among regions varied between years. Thus, for example, the diagnostic species for the downstream
sites were C. harengus and M. merlangus in 1990/1991 and S. sprattus in 1992/1993, reflecting differences in the recruitment strengths of these marine species in the two years. The ichthyofaunal
composition exhibited pronounced annual cyclical changes in each region and thus occurred irrespective of whether or not the
salinity in a region underwent pronounced changes during the year. This cyclicity was attributable to intra-annual variations
in the times of recruitment of certain marine species, particularly in the downstream region, and to seasonal migrations of
diadromous species into each region, as well as to the movements of freshwater species into the upstream region in winter
and early spring.
Received: 18 November 1999 / Accepted: 25 October 2000 |
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