Juvenile capelin (Mallotus villosus) off Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1990s

Juvenile capelin, Mallotus villosus (Muller), were distributed primarily on the northern Grand Banks and secondarily along the northeast coast of Newfoundland during late summer, 1994-1999. In some years, distributions extended to coastal Labrador. Capelin were seldom observed over deep water of the northeast Newfoundland Shelf or in shallow water of the southern Grand Banks. There were large areas encompassing wide ranges of capelin densities measured by the IYGPT trawl where the acoustic system did not detect capelin. Mean growth rate of capelin from 0- to 2-group was represented by length (mm)=90.9 age (years)(0.57) (r(2)=99%). The 1-group capelin formed discrete schools that varied significantly in fish length from 65 to 110 mm (p<0.05). Spatially, the different size groups occurred at scales of <55 km and possibly <3 km in some cases. The geographic distribution of age groups was not a simple function of cohort abundance. Capelin were distributed primarily in the middle ranges of temperature (5-8degreesC) and zooplankton biomass (2-4 g dry weight m(-2)) sampled during the surveys. It is possible that interspecific competition limits the distributions of juvenile capelin, where juvenile Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) and sandlance (Ammodytes sp.) were abundant to the north and south respectively. (C) 2002 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.