Water masses and fish larvae in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) and Strait of Gibraltar

Abstract

In this paper the relationship between interannual changes in the water masses and fish larvae composition and distribution at the Alboran Sea and Strait of Gibraltar were analysed. Among the dominant taxa only two neritic taxa (Sparidae and Cepola rubescens) and five oceanic taxa (Ceratoscopelus maderensis, Maurolicus muelleri, Benthosema glaciale, Hygophum benoiti and Capros aper) were present in both surveys. At sampling station level, pronounced interannual substitutions were detected in dominant taxa and water masses. The clusters reflected time-space changes in both larval communities (neritic/oceanic), with a differing horizontal zonation: latitudinal partitioning in 1993 and a longitudinal partitioning in 1994. These results indicate that the structure of the larval associations is modulated by changes in the local hydrodynamics.