Inter-annual variability of North Sea plaice spawning habitat

Potential spawning habitat is defined as the area where environmental conditions are suitable for spawning to occur. Spawning adult data from the first quarter (January–March) of the International Bottom Trawl Survey have been used to study the inter-annual variability of the potential spawning habitat of North Sea plaice from 1980 to 2007. Generalised additive models (GAM) were used to create a model that related five environmental variables (depth, bottom temperature and salinity, seabed stress and sediment type) to presence–absence and abundance of spawning adults. Then, the habitat model was applied each year from 1970 to 2007 to predict inter-annual variability of the potential spawning habitat. Predicted responses obtained by GAM for each year were mapped using kriging. A hierarchical classification associated with a correspondence analysis was performed to cluster spawning suitable areas and to determine how they evolved across years. The potential spawning habitat was consistent with historical spawning ground locations described in the literature from eggs surveys. It was also found that the potential spawning habitat varied across years. Suitable areas were located in the southern part of the North Sea and along the eastern coast of England and Scotland in the eighties; they expanded further north from the nineties. Annual survey distributions did not show such northward expansion and remained located in the southern North Sea. This suggests that this species' actual spatial distribution remains stable against changing environmental conditions, and that the potential spawning habitat is not fully occupied. Changes in environmental conditions appear to remain within plaice environmental ranges, meaning that other factors may control the spatial distribution of plaice spawning habitat.     

半滑舌鳎(Cynoglossus semilaevis)幼鱼生长性状和底色的表型和遗传参数估计

半滑舌鳎是重要的经济鱼类,已经被广泛推广养殖,致力于养殖方面的研究开展了很多工作,但是对半滑舌鳎生长性状进行准确遗传评估的研究还未见报道。为了对生长性状进行准确的遗传参数估计,本次研究以80个半滑舌鳎家系为研究对象,对半滑舌鳎早期生长性状（包括个体全长、体宽和体质量）进行分析。另外还将鱼体底面纯白与否（命名为底面颜色）作为一个性状进行研究。结果表明,四个性状都属于中等遗传力（全长为0.210、体宽为0.259、体质量为0.268、底面颜色为0.362）。三个生长性状之间具有很高的遗传相关性（0.913-0.959）,表明如果三个性状进行间接选择的话,将会取得较好效果。底面颜色性状与三个生长性状均为正遗传相关,相关系数在0.241-0.353之间,由此可知,对底面颜色进行选择时,可以加强生长性状的选择效果。通过家系育种值排序,初步筛选出了生长性状优良遗传背景丰富的16个全同胞家系,将作为亲鱼繁殖后代。本研究为半滑舌鳎优良品种的成功培育提供了重要基础资料。