U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Measuring fish condition: an evaluation of new and old metrics for three species with contrasting life histories



Details

  • Journal Title:
    Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
  • Description:
    Measuring fish condition should link ecosystem drivers with population dynamics, if the underlying physiological basis for variations in condition indices are understood. We evaluated traditional (K, Kn, hepatosomatic index, gonadosomatic index, energy density, and percent dry weight of muscle (%DWM) and liver (%DWL)) and newer (bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and scaled mass index (SMI)) condition indices to track seasonal cycles in three flatfishes — winter founder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus; three stocks), yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea; three stocks), and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus; one stock) — with contrasting life histories in habitat, feeding, and reproduction. The %DWM and %DWL were good proxies for energy density (r2 > 0.96) and more strongly related to K, Kn, and SMI than to BIA metrics. Principal component analysis indicated many metrics performed similarly across species; some were confounded by size, sex, and maturity along PC1, while others effectively characterized condition along PC2. Stock differences were along PC1 in winter flounder, reflecting different sizes across stocks, whereas in yellowtail flounder differences occurred along PC2 related to condition. These comparisons, within and across species, highlight the broad applicability of some metrics and limitations in others.
  • Keywords:
  • Source:
    Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 76(6)
  • DOI:
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Rights Information:
    Other
  • Compliance:
    Submitted
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:9e77f2759068e41da33ce845ca9d931c8ea790eff49abf9fb9ddd4469e4ca6ba
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.70 MB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP