Marine Biology Commons^™

Do Mesopelagic Fish Biomass Patterns Change In Response To Major Oceanographic Features In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico?, Ian M. Areford

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

In recent years interest in mesopelagic fishes has grown due to their ecological significance and economic potential. A major outstanding question is how the assemblage is potentially structured by mesoscale (10 - 100s km) oceanographic features such as eddies, fronts, and riverine plumes. Mesoscale features are known to influence micronekton and zooplankton’s spatial distributions but data on individual mesopelagic fish species’ responses are limited. The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is an area of particular interest due to its diverse mesopelagic fish assemblage, its well-defined mesoscale oceanographic features, its history of anthropogenic impacts such as oil spills, and its diverse mesopelagic …