Publication Abstract

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey is a unique and well known source of long-term and large-scale information covering more than 300 species of zooplankton. Fish larvae are also sampled by the CPR but their routine identification stopped after 1978. However, the visual identification of separate species or families in historic CPR larval samples covering the period 1979-2005 has now been completed. The most abundant groups of fish larvae caught by the CPR are Clupeids (Clupeidae), Sandeels (Ammodytidae) and Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus). Here we explore the biogeographical changes in fish larvae distributions over the 55 years of data available (1950-2005) as well as the potential relationships over the UK shelf with prey abundance (copepods and cladocerans), phytoplankton (diatoms and dinoflagellates) and environmental variables. We further examine the potential relationships of Clupeid larvae with the stock assessment data for Herring (Clupea harengus) in the North Sea and Celtic Sea.