Ecology of poor-cod (Trisopterus minutus) on the Faroe Bank

Abstract

Living in an oceanic ecosystem on the edge of its distribution range, the Faroe Bank's poor-cod occurs in a special habitat. This paper gives a general description of the ecology of poor-cod living on the Faroe Bank. Poor-cod live on the shallow part of the Bank in a habitat mainly consisting of shell sand and sand. They prefer depths between 121 and 133 m. The average length of fish caught is about 21 cm (range 14–28 cm), which is somewhat higher than normally found for this species in other areas. A sex-specific difference occurs in the growth pattern, with faster growth for females. Generally, the individual growth is high for poor-cod on the Faroe Bank compared to other areas, which is probably due to the favourable environmental conditions on the Bank, with high temperature and abundant food supply. The main spawning occurs in the second half of April. Females reach sexual maturity at an earlier age than males (1.7 vs. 2.7 years), but their length is the same, about 20 cm. Crustaceans form by far the greatest part of the food consumed and make up nearly 70% by weight of the food items; fish and polychaetes were also part of the food.

Keywords:

• Trisopterus minutus
• Faroe Bank
• life-history traits
• spatial distribution
• size and age composition

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues at the Faroese Fisheries Laboratory for support in the practical work of this project. We are also grateful to Dr Eilif Gaard, Mr Petur Steingrund and to our colleagues, Dr Robert James Brown and Dr Knud Simonsen, for their critical review and good advice on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark