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Fish community diversity in the middle continental shelf of the East China Sea

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Abstract

The status of fishery stocks in the coastal waters of China is far from ideal, mainly due to climate change and the impacts of human activities (e.g., pollution and overfishing). Thus, the restoration and protection of fishery resources have become critical and complex. The stability and balanced structure of the fish community is a basic foundation for the protection of fishery resources. Based on data collected from bottom trawls by the R/V Beidou in continental shelf of the East China Sea in November 2006 and February 2007, changes in the composition and diversity of fish species and functional groups were analyzed. The research area was divided into offshore waters and inshore waters by the two-way indicator species analysis (TWIA). The results showed that the dominant species were different between offshore waters and inshore waters and also varied with the survey time. The most abundant family was Sciaenidae and Teraponidae in November 2006, Sciaenidae, Engraulidae and Triglidae were most abundant in February 2007. The species belonged mainly to mobile piscivores (G6), benthivores/piscivores (G4), benthivores (G3) and planktivores (G1), and the dominant species in November 2006 were commercial species (e.g. Larimichthys polyactis and Trichiurus japonicus), but small-sized species were dominant in February 2007 (e.g., Harpadon nehereus, Benthosema pterotum, Champsodon capensis, and Acropoma japonicum). The species diversity showed a similar trend as the functional group diversity. Stations with higher diversity were mainly distributed in inshore waters in February 2007, whereas higher diversity was found in offshore waters in November 2006. The highest biomass and species number were found in G6 group, followed by the G4, G5 and G1 groups. The distribution of the number of individuals of each functional group showed the opposite trend as that of the biomass distribution. In addition, the size spectra were mainly concentrated around 3–29 cm, and the individual number of fish species gradually decreased with the increase in body size, but the relative biomass showed a moderate fluctuation in each size class. These changes showed that species with faster growth rate and earlier maturity age became dominant in continental shelf of the East China Sea. So the variations in biological characteristics of fish should be fully considered in maintaining sustainable utilization of fishery resource.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Marine Fisheries Resource, Ministry of Agriculture; Key Laboratory for Fishery Resources and Eco-environment, Shandong Province, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xiujuan Shan  (单秀娟), Xianshi Jin  (金显仕), Zhipeng Zhou  (周志鹏) & Fangqun Dai  (戴芳群)

  2. College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Zhipeng Zhou  (周志鹏)

Authors
  1. Xiujuan Shan  (单秀娟)
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  2. Xianshi Jin  (金显仕)
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  3. Zhipeng Zhou  (周志鹏)
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  4. Fangqun Dai  (戴芳群)
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Correspondence to Xianshi Jin  (金显仕).

Additional information

Supported by the Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31061160187), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2010CB951204), Taishan Scholar Program of Shandong Province, Yellow & Bohai Sea Scientific Observation and Experiment Station for Fishery Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture

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Shan, X., Jin, X., Zhou, Z. et al. Fish community diversity in the middle continental shelf of the East China Sea. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 29, 1199–1208 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-011-0321-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-011-0321-2

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