A specimen of tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (total length: 402 mm, total mass: 1262 g) was caught in the shallow waters of the inner Bristol Channel on September 2, 2019, with this only the second ...known capture of this species from the British Isles. Given the cosmopolitan distribution of this species, the potential origin of this specimen is uncertain.
We show that the distributions of both exploited and nonexploited North Sea fishes have responded markedly to recent increases in sea temperature, with nearly two-thirds of species shifting in mean ...latitude or depth or both over 25 years. For species with northerly or southerly range margins in the North Sea, half have shown boundary shifts with warming, and all but one shifted northward. Species with shifting distributions have faster life cycles and smaller body sizes than nonshifting species. Further temperature rises are likely to have profound impacts on commercial fisheries through continued shifts in distribution and alterations in community interactions.
The protection of sensitive species from overfishing is a key aspect of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
We use life‐history parameters and knowledge of fish shape and habitat to ...estimate the sensitivity of 270 species in the Northeast Atlantic to demersal trawling and compare sensitivity to the most recent IUCN categorization. Species classified as threatened were on average significantly more sensitive to trawling than other species. Using trawl surveys in European Atlantic waters from 36°N to 62°N, we estimated indicators of abundance of 31 highly sensitive species and compared changes in abundance to sensitivity, management measures, and value of landings.
The abundance of 23 of the 31 sensitive species increased after year 2000 with 14 of the species showing increases significant at the 5% level. The increases were not due to specific management measures, as less than half of the species were covered by catch limits. Furthermore, sensitivity or value of landings was not related to trends in abundance.
Three species (Atlantic wolf‐fish, tusk and starry ray) declined significantly. These species are all at their southern distributional limit in the North Sea.
Synthesis and applications. We recommend monitoring the development of sensitive species to identify species under pressure and allow rapid management actions before species enter the IUCN threatened category. Furthermore, we recommend taking precautions where species are under combined pressure from climate change and fishing.
We recommend monitoring the development of sensitive species to identify species under pressure and allow rapid management actions before species enter the IUCN threatened category. Furthermore, we recommend taking precautions where species are under combined pressure from climate change and fishing.
Commercial landings of starry smooth-hound Mustelus asterias in northern European seas are increasing, whilst our knowledge of their ecology, behaviour and population structure remains limited. M. ...asterias is a widely distributed demersal shark, occupying the waters of the southern North Sea and Irish Sea in the north, to at least the southern Bay of Biscay in the south, and is seasonally abundant in UK waters. There are no species-specific management measures for the northeast Atlantic stock, and the complexity of its population structure is not yet fully understood. To address this issue, we deployed both mark-recapture and electronic tags on M. asterias to gain novel insights into its horizontal and vertical movements. Our data suggest that the habitat use of M. asterias changes on a seasonal basis, with associated changes in geographical distribution, depth utilisation and experienced temperature. We report the first direct evidence of philopatry for this species, and also provide initial evidence of sex-biased dispersal and potential metapopulation-like stock structuring either side of the UK continental shelf. Investigations of finer-scale vertical movements revealed clear diel variation in vertical activity. The illustrated patterns of seasonal space-use and behaviour will provide important information to support the stock assessment process and will help inform any future management options.
Adapting the current management of marine resources to align with an ecosystem-based approach is becoming increasingly common. Understanding the communities within an area—their species and ...distribution—is crucial to managing marine activities whilst maintaining ecological function. We performed a broad-scale community analysis of the demersal assemblages of the western English Channel and Celtic Sea. The diversity of the study area was investigated through
K
-means cluster analysis, indicator species analysis, diversity indices and discussion in relation to relevant environmental variables. The demersal species studied formed 7 distinct demersal assemblages, broadly aligned with environmental variables such as natural disturbance and substrate. Several assemblages were defined by notable characterising species, including Norway lobster
Nephrops norvegicus
in the Celtic Sea, queen scallop
Aequipecten opercularis
in the central western English Channel and boarfish
Capros aper
off the coast of the Cornish peninsula and the Isles of Scilly. The area of the central English Channel dominated by queen scallop had lower diversity relative to neighbouring demersal assemblages. This study provides the most spatially comprehensive delineation of demersal assemblage structure for this region, and is an example of the spatial analyses needed to inform future biodiversity monitoring and marine spatial planning, which are both key aspects of an ecosystem-based approach for the management of human activities in marine waters.
How do we understand the boundaries of individual creatures? What are the systems of interdependency that bind all living creatures together? Plants were among the the first to colonize the planet. ...They created the soil and the atmosphere that made life possible for animals. They are some of the largest and oldest life forms on Earth. In spite of their primacy, Western cultures have traditionally regarded plants as the lowest life forms, lacking mobility, sensation, and communication. But recent research argues that plants move and respond to their environment, communicate with each other, and form partnerships with other species. Art, poetry, and essays by cultural anthropologists, experimental plant biologists, philosophers, botanists and foresters expose the complex interactions of the vibrant living world around us and give us a lens through which we can explore our intertwined histories.
Pelagic stingray (Pteroplatytrygon violacea) is the only species of stingray (Dasyatidae) that utilizes both pelagic and demersal habitats. It is the main bycatch species in pelagic longline ...fisheries targeting bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Gulf of Lions. In the Mediterranean Sea, their stock structure, behavioural ecology and movements are unknown. For the first time in the Mediterranean, 17 individuals (39–60 cm disc width) were tagged with pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags using a novel method of tag attachment to investigate horizontal and vertical movements. The tags were attached for between two and 60 days. Between the months of July and October, pelagic stingray occupied a temperature range of 12.5–26.6 °C, and a depth range extending from the surface to 480 m. Monthly trends in catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of pelagic stingray peaked in August and decreased by late autumn. Pelagic stingray may aggregate on the continental shelf during summer and move southwards in early autumn, and this movement pattern is considered in relation to the reproductive cycle and overwintering. At-vessel mortality was low, but there was varying evidence of post-release mortality, indicating the need for further work. Future work and options for bycatch mitigation are also discussed.
At‐sea observer programmes can provide spatio‐temporal data on the sizes and quantities of fish being either discarded or retained, including for species and size categories that may not be sampled ...effectively during scientific surveys. Such data were analysed for English and Welsh fisheries operating on the continental shelf of the North Sea ecoregion (ICES Divisions 4a–c and 7d) and Celtic Seas ecoregion (ICES Divisions 6a, 7a–c, e–k) for the period (2002–2016). These data were collated for four main gear types: beamtrawl, nephrops and otter trawls, and nets (including gillnets, tangle nets and trammel nets). Beamtrawlers caught proportionally more smaller individuals than otter trawlers, whilst nets were the most size‐selective gear for larger sharks. Size‐related discarding was observed, with smaller spurdog Squalus acanthias and starry smooth‐hound Mustelus asterias (< 60 cm total length, LT) usually being discarded. Such size‐based selection was not evident for lesser‐spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula, which was generally landed as bait. Temporal changes in the discard–retention patterns were evident for S. acanthias and porbeagle Lamna nasus, with increased regulatory discarding as management measures became restrictive. A corresponding increase in the proportion of the non‐quota M. asterias retained was also observed over the study period. Knowledge of the size‐based discard–retention patterns by métier can also help inform on where future studies on discard survival could usefully be undertaken.
How have North Sea skate and shark assemblages changed since the early 20th century when bottom trawling became widespread, whilst their environment became increasingly impacted by fishing, climate ...change, habitat degradation and other anthropogenic pressures? This article examines long‐term changes in the distribution and occurrence of the elasmobranch assemblage of the southern North Sea, based on extensive historical time series (1902–2013) of fishery‐independent survey data. In general, larger species (thornback ray, tope, spurdog) exhibited long‐term declines, and the largest (common skate complex) became locally extirpated (as did angelshark). Smaller species increased (spotted and starry ray, lesser‐spotted dogfish) as did smooth‐hound, likely benefiting from greater resilience to fishing and/or climate change. This indicates a fundamental shift from historical dominance of larger, commercially valuable species to current prevalence of smaller, more productive species often of low commercial value. In recent years, however, some trends have reversed, with the (cold‐water associated) starry ray now declining and thornback ray increasing. This shift may be attributed to (i) fishing, including mechanised beam trawling introduced in the 1960s–1970s, and historical target fisheries for elasmobranchs; (ii) climate change, currently favouring warm‐water above cold‐water species; and (iii) habitat loss, including potential degradation of coastal and outer estuarine nursery habitats. The same anthropogenic pressures, here documented to have impacted North Sea elasmobranchs over the past century, are likewise impacting shelf seas worldwide and may increase in the future; therefore, parallel changes in elasmobranch communities in other regions are to be expected.
Based for the most part on Ovid'sMetamorphoses, epyllia retell stories of the dalliances of gods and mortals, most often concerning the transformation of beautiful youths. This short-lived genre ...flourished and died in England in the 1590s. It was produced mainly by and for the young men of the Inns of Court, where the ambitious came to study law and to sample the pleasures London had to offer. Jim Ellis provides detailed readings of fifteen examples of the epyllion, considering the poems in their cultural milieu and arguing that these myths of the transformations of young men are at the same time stories of sexual, social, and political metamorphoses.
Examining both the most famous (Shakespeare'sVenus and Adonisand Marlowe'sHero and Leander) and some of the more obscure examples of the genre (Hiren, the Fair GreekandThe Metamorphosis of Tabacco), Ellis moves from considering fantasies of selfhood, through erotic relations with others, to literary affiliation, political relations, and finally to international issues such as exploration, settlement, and trade. Offering a revisionist account of the genre of the epyllion, Ellis transforms theories of sexuality, literature, and politics of the Elizabethan age, making an erudite and intriguing contribution to the field.
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