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Species structure and temporal stability of mesopelagic fish assemblages in the Central Gyres of the North and South Pacific Ocean

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Abstract

Species compositions of mesopelagic fish assemblages were studied as inclusively as possible from 1969 through 1974 in the North Pacific Gyre and in the South Pacific Gyre, two oceanic regions where physical factors remained relatively constant within and between years. Both gyres were rich in mesopelagic fish species (228 and 144 were identified in the north and in the south, respectively). Species composition differed between the north and in the south in some details, which are discussed. A typical trawl sample contained 30 to 50 species, of which 5 or fewer accounted for over half of the individuals; this marked dominance tended to increase with sample size. By several statistical measures of community structure, species composition of fish assemblages in both gyres was shown to remain nearly constant within and between years, the only significant variations being in biomass from one year to the next. The results as a whole indicate that the central gyres show no evidence of advective processes influencing community structure. All important processes evidently take place in situ, suggesting that the gyres can be considered self-regulated and semi-closed ecosystems with a high degrce of biological regulation.

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  1. M. A. Barnett

    Present address: Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, 20560, Washington, D.C., USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biology Research Division, A-008, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 92093, La Jolla, California, USA

    M. A. Barnett

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Communicated by N. D. Holland, La Jolla

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Barnett, M.A. Species structure and temporal stability of mesopelagic fish assemblages in the Central Gyres of the North and South Pacific Ocean. Mar. Biol. 74, 245–256 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403448

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