Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Abundance, Biomass and Length of the Silver-Cheeked Toadfish Lagocephalus sceleratus in the Gulf of Antalya, Turkey (Eastern Mediterranean Sea)


Ozbek E. O., ÇARDAK M., Kebapcioglu T.

TURKISH JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES, vol.17, no.4, pp.725-733, 2017 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

Abstract

The variations in abundance, biomass and length frequency of 811 individuals of Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) according to the seasons, locations, and depth levels in the Gulf of Antalya were reported in this study. L. sceleratus was sampled from 61 of 116 hauls of commercial bottom trawl that were realized seasonally between August 2009 and April 2010, at six locations and at six depth levels (25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 m). The frequency of occurrence was 56.48% at the depths between 25 and 150 m, but the fish were absent at 200 m. The overall mean abundance was calculated as 136.21 ind./km(2) (11.67 ind./h) and biomass as 15.73 kg/km(2) (1.37 kg/h). The total length (TL) ranged from 11 to 50 cm, and the mean TL was calculated as 19.99 cm. According to the available data, this is the widest depth range of L. sceleratus and the deepest record of the species in the Mediterranean Sea.