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The Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni): biology, ecology, and life history in the Ross Sea region

  • BIOLOGY OF THE ROSS SEA
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An Opinion Paper to this article was published on 09 February 2016

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 October 2015

Abstract

The Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni, Norman) is a large notothenioid fish that supports valuable fisheries around the Antarctic continent. The Ross Sea fishery, which started in 1997, is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Whilst a large amount of research into the biology of this species has been carried out over the past decade, much of this work has been presented in CCAMLR working group papers and has not been published in the primary literature. In this paper, we bring together and summarise the extensive published and unpublished literature on the biology and ecology of Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea region including distribution, stock structure, reproduction, age and growth, and trophic ecology in a single document for the first time. We also review and further develop testable hypotheses surrounding its life cycle and identify gaps in our knowledge including spawning behaviour and early life history which need to be addressed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the scientific observers and fishing company staff who collected the data used for this analysis, as well as the two reviewers who provided invaluable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. They also thank the members of the New Zealand Antarctic Fisheries Stock Assessment Working Group and in particular Jack Fenaughtyand Matt Pinkerton for helpful discussions and input into this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, P.O. Box 893, Nelson, New Zealand

    Stuart Hanchet & Steven Parker

  2. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, Private Bag 14901, Wellington, New Zealand

    Alistair Dunn, Peter Horn, Darren Stevens & Sophie Mormede

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  1. Stuart Hanchet
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  2. Alistair Dunn
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  3. Steven Parker
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Correspondence to Stuart Hanchet.

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Guest editors: Diego Fontaneto & Stefano Schiaparelli /Biology of the Ross Sea and Surrounding Areas in Antarctica

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Hanchet, S., Dunn, A., Parker, S. et al. The Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni): biology, ecology, and life history in the Ross Sea region. Hydrobiologia 761, 397–414 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2435-6

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