Cienc. Tecnol. Mar, 29 (1): 153-161, 2006
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF ABUNDANCE AND SIZE OF EIGHT KINDS OF FISH LARVAE FROM GUAFO OUTLET TO ANNA PINK BAY, SOUTHERN CHILE*
GLORIA CÓRDOVA 1, 2 FERNANDO BALBONTÍN 2
1 Departamento de Acuicultura, Subsecretaría de Pesca, Casilla 100 V, Valparaíso. E-mail: gcordova@subpesca.cl 2 Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y de Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Valparaíso. Casilla 5080 Reñaca, Viña del Mar.
Recepción: 4 de agosto de 2004 - Versión corregida aceptada: 21 de marzo de 2006.
ABSTRACT
A comparison of the abundance and size of eight kinds of fish lar vae was carried out, in seven geographic sectors located inside of the southern channels system of Chile, and in the outer area under oceanic influence. With this purpose, 39 ichthyoplankton samples were analysed, collected during the CIMAR 8 Fiordos oceanographic cruise. In all sectors, common sardine Strangomera bentincki and rockfish Sebastes capensis lar vae were numerically dominant, with the exception of sector King, with the highest abundance in Ninualac and Moraleda, respectively. When these species were excluded from calculations, the highest values of the remaining species corresponded to sectors King and Moraleda. The highest mean abundance of the larval ensemble was found in Ninualac, with 945 larvae, followed by Moraleda and Darwin. Some sectors presented larger specimens, but the total size distribution did not allow to discriminate a particular sector where the larger larvae concentrate. Guafo and Dar win stand out by the presence of the eight kinds of larvae. The highest larval abundance of rockfish, in various developmental stages, was found in Moraleda, while those of the highest mean size but in lower quantities were caught in Guafo. Ninualac and Pulluche concentrated 52% of the mean larval abundance of common sardine per sector, most of them in advanced stage of development. The influence of the oceanic area explained in part the abundance and size distribution of larvae but not the distribution pattern observed in all of them.
Key words: Estuarine areas, larval retention area, Strangomera bentincki, Sebastes capensis.