G-1 



8. FISH 



8. 1 Introduction 



In most of the world's seas the fish fauna has been a subject of special study because 

 of its economic importance. Although the value of Antarctic fish as food has long been 

 reoognised by expeditions of discovery, (one of the first fish specimens caught near to the 

 Antarctic continent vjas eaten by the nhip's cat before it could be properly deecribed, Schlee 

 1973)» it is only recently that commoroial fishing has begun. There are in the literature 

 several good reviews whicli include biological information outside the scope of this report 

 (e.g., Marshall I964, Andrias)iev l')6'h). In addition to these, Kock (1975) has prepared an 

 extensive reviev; which also incl^idcs an c;:tcnsivo bibliograpl;,y, of selected species of po- 

 tential commercial importance in the Atlantic sector of the Antarctic. 



8.2 Species 



Of the 20 000 kinds of modem fishon only about 100 have been discovered in the seas 

 south of the Antarctic Convergence. Thus, althougli the Southern Ocean is continuous with 

 the other major oceans of the I'/orld, it clearly represents quite a specialised environment. 

 The dominant group in the Antarctic ichthyofauna is tlie Nototheniif ormes, a division com- 

 prising five families that make up nearly thrceqnarters of all coast fish species. Of these 

 five families only the Nototheniidao and Chamichthyidae contain representatives of potential 

 commercial importance. Tlie remaining groups include the follov;ing: Myxinidae, Dalatiidae, 

 Rajidae, Muraenolepidae, Zoarcidae, Congiopodidae, Liparidae, Bothidae, Gadidac, Merlucciidae, 

 of which only the Rajidae and the last two contain species of potential major commercial 

 importance. 



In contrast to the other oceans of the v;orld the Southern Ocean does not appear to con- 

 tain dense shoals of obligate pelagic fish. The pelagic ichtliyofauna is largely made up of 

 Myctophidae in addition to the Nototheniid genera Pleura, gramma and Dissostichus and the 

 Gadoid genus Mlcromcsistius . 



The Myctophidae and other bathypelagic groups have not been included in Table 8.1 

 because present indications suggest tliat although they may well be abundant in the open 

 ocean they do not form concentrations on which a fishery could be based. The most abundant 

 bathypelagic species of the Antarctic according to Andriashev (1965) are; 



Electrona antarctica 



QymnoBcopelus braueri 



I!athyla,gu3 antarcticus 



Notolepis coatsi 



Cyclotliono microdon 

 A list of the species of potential importance is given in Table 3.1. Taxonomic informa- 

 tion will be found in Norman (1937, 1938) along with good identification keys. 



8.3 Distribution 



Ab is the case with many areas that are unfished commercially, knowledge of the distri- 

 bution of many species is incomplete. The information given in the maps (Fig. 8.1 a - k) 

 will in only few oases indicate the area of abundant distribution. The information from 

 the maps should be used in conjunction with the bathynetric information given in Table 8.2 

 along with a detailed contour chart in order to gain the best idea of the distribution. 

 Pleuragramma antarcticum has been excluded from the distribution maps. This species is con- 

 sidered to have a high latitude circumpolar distribution, it has not been recorded in the 

 vicinity of the Antarctic Convergence. The bathypelagic fish species have also been ex- 

 cluded and they are assumed to have a circumpolar distribution over more or less the whole 

 Southern Ocean. 



