Production and consumption by planktivorous fish in the northern Benguela ecosystem in the 1980s

Abstract

In the 1980s, abundance of four abundant planktivorous fish in the northern Benguela ecosystem (15–29°S, coast to 500 m contour) — pilchard Sardinops sagax, anchovy Engraulis capensis, bearded goby Sufflogobius bibarbatus and lanternfish, mainly Lampanyctodes hectoris — was estimated to be 1,8 million tons wet mass on average. These fish consumed 3,7 million tons dry mass of plankton, mostly zooplankton, and produced 0,1 million tons of carbon annually. There is considerable uncertainty regarding the estimates of abundance and diet; hence also of consumption and production.