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Maturation differences between sub-stocks of haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus

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Abstract

Contemporary maturation schedules of North Sea haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, differ between spawning centres east and west of the Greenwich meridian. In this study, young-of-the-year haddock from these two sub-stocks were raised under a common environment in order to test whether this sub-stock difference reflected temperature exposure during maturation or an intrinsic (presumed genetic) effect. Maturity–size relationships differed between sub-stocks for the same temperature, indicating an intrinsic component to the contemporary differences now found in the wild. Relative liver mass additionally explained some variation in the maturity–length relationships. Despite inhabiting a thermal regime more favourable for early maturation, west North Sea haddock had the lowest body size and liver mass at maturity for a given temperature. However, historic fishing effort was much higher in the west North Sea, suggesting that contemporary differences may reflect long-term differences in sub-stock mortality.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the help of M. O’Sullivan, F. Gibb and J. Augley in sampling the fish throughout the experiment, and thank C. Norris, B. Gall and B. Williamson for invaluable technical assistance and husbandry of the fish and R. Fryer for statistical advice. We thank F. Gibb, F. Neat and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This research was funded by the Scottish Government (MF 0764) and carried out under a United Kingdom Home Office licence.

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  1. Declan Tobin

    Present address: JNCC, Inverdee House, Baxter Street, Aberdeen, AB11 9QA, Scotland, UK

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  1. Marine Scotland, Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB, Scotland, UK

    Peter J. Wright & Declan Tobin

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Correspondence to Peter J. Wright.

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Communicated by T. Reusch.

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Wright, P.J., Tobin, D. Maturation differences between sub-stocks of haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus . Mar Biol 160, 231–239 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2083-6

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