Demersal and pelagic species of fish and squid from the Patagonian shelf

Study Extent

The sampling area was located on the Patagonian Continental Shelf, in the Atlantic margin of South America, within -52 to -39 ºS and -65 to -55 ºW. The depth range of the sampling was 73-370 m.

Sampling

Specimens of fish and squid (commercial target and by catch) were taken daily by commercial fishing vessels operating with bottom trawls during autumn (May-June, 2001, 51 catches), winter (July-August, 2001, 38 catches) and summer (January-February, 2002, 112 catches). The fishing company provided the associated data of each fishing haul: date, hour and location decimal Latitude and Longitude of the position while pulling the net) and depth of the catch (the maximum depth reached by the net). Specimens were frozen on board,and identified at species level at the Ichthyology laboratory of Centro Nacional Patagonico, Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The taxonomical identification of species was made by the specialists Dr. A. Gosztonyi and Dr. M. Re and the scientific names and their current accurate spelling were also reviewed using suitable literature (Brunetti et al., 1998; Cousseau and Perrotta, 2013) and the WoRMS web site(http://www.marinespecies.org/). Sex (when possible) and morphometric measures were taken for each specimen: wet mass (g) and wet mass of viscera (g, empty stomach); total and standard length (cm) for fish; mantle, head and fin length and width (cm) for squid; left and right fin length (cm) and maximum fin width (cm) for skates.

Quality Control

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Method steps

1. Step1: Sampling locality and depth were recorded in each season. Step2: Specimens were sent to the lab for species and sex identification and morphometric measurements.

All specimens were identified to species level. The dataset included 39 marine species of fish, representative of half the best known fish species from the Argentine continental shelf (55.7 %, Cosseau and Perrota 2013), and 2 species of squid, that were captured during three seasons, autumn (May-June, 2001), winter (July-August, 2001) and summer (January-February, 2002). Autumn and summer records presented a high diversity of species (80.5 and 78 %, respectively), while only 46% of the species were present in winter

1. Squalus acanthias
   common name: piked dogfish
2. Schroederichthys bivius
   common name: Narrowmouthed catshark
3. Discopyge tschudii
   common name: Apron ray
4. Dipturus chilensis
   common name: yellownose skate
5. Psammobatis scobina
   common name: raspthorn sand skate
6. Psammobatis normani
   common name: shortfin sand skate
7. Bathyraja brachyurops
   common name: broadnose skate
8. Bathyraja macloviana
   common name: patagonian skate
9. Bathyraja scaphiops
   common name: Cuphead Skate
10. Callorhynchus callorhynchus
    common name: elephant fish
11. Bassanago albescens
    common name: hairy conger
12. Salilota australis
    common name: patagonian cod
13. Austrophycis marginata
14. Micromesistius australis
    common name: southern blue whiting
15. Macruronus magellanicus
    common name: longtail hake
16. Merluccius australis
    common name: southern hake
17. Merluccius hubbsi
    common name: argentine hake
18. Coelorhynchus fasciatus
    common name: grenadier
19. Genypterus blacodes
    common name: pink cuskeel
20. Sebastes oculatus
    common name: patagonian redfish
21. Prionotus nudigula
    common name: atlantic searobin
22. Congiopodus peruvianus
    common name: horsefish
23. Cottunculus granulosus
    common name: fathead
24. Acanthistius brasilianus
    common name: Argentine seabass
25. Brama brama
    common name: Atlantic pomfret
26. Iluocoetes fimbriatus
27. Cottoperca gobio
    common name: Channel bull blenny
28. Parona signata
    common name: parona leatherjack
29. Nemadactylus bergi
    common name: hawkfish
30. Dissostichus eleginoides
    common name: patagonian toothfish
31. Patagonotothen ramsayi
    common name: Longtail southern cod
32. Pseudopercis semifasciata
    common name: brasilian sandperch
33. Scomber japonicus
    common name: chub mackerel
34. Seriolella punctata
    common name: silver warehou
35. Stromateus brasiliensis
    common name: butterfish
36. Paralichthys patagonicus
    common name: patagonian flounder
37. Mancopsetta maculata
    common name: flounder
38. Illex argentinus
    common name: Argentine shortfin squid
39. Moroteuthis ingens
    common name: greater hooked squid

The argentine continental shelf, in the Atlantic margin of South America, is bounded by the line of the coast and the continental slope and is the most extensive submerged plain in the world, with an area of 930.000 km2 (Cousseau and Perrotta, 2013). It is characterized by gentle slopes and low-relief. The shelf waters are of sub-Antarctic origin diluted by continental flows and modified by exchanges of mass and heat with the atmosphere. The main distribution of the species of this dataset is: • The internal and external sectors of the shelf off the Province of Buenos Aires (35° S) to Patagonia (48° S). • The southern part of the Patagonian-Fuegian shelf and Malvinas/Falkland Islands, along the outer shelf to the North, up to approximately 42° S. • Deeper waters near the continental slope.