Nigel Robert Merrett (born 1940) is a British zoologist and ichthyologist and former director of the fish section of the British Natural History Museum. [1]
In 1998, Merrett participated in an expedition headed by Nikolas Vasilyevich Parin to collect deepwater specimens. [2]
In 1997, Merrett, along with R.L. Haedrich, wrote the book Deep-Sea Demersal Fish and Fisheries. [3] In the book, they warn against fishing in deep water. [1]
Deep-sea fish are fish that live in the darkness below the sunlit surface waters, that is below the epipelagic or photic zone of the sea. The lanternfish is, by far, the most common deep-sea fish. Other deep sea fishes include the flashlight fish, cookiecutter shark, bristlemouths, anglerfish, viperfish, and some species of eelpout.
The orange roughy, also known as the red roughy, slimehead and deep sea perch, is a relatively large deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family (Trachichthyidae). The UK Marine Conservation Society has categorized orange roughy as "vulnerable to exploitation". It is found in 3 to 9 °C, deep waters of the Western Pacific Ocean, eastern Atlantic Ocean, Indo-Pacific, and in the eastern Pacific off Chile. The orange roughy is notable for its extraordinary lifespan, attaining over 200 years. It is important to commercial deep-trawl fisheries. The fish is a bright, brick-red color, fading to a yellowish-orange after death.
Bottom trawling is trawling along the sea floor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towing a net at the very bottom of the ocean and demersal trawling is towing a net just above the benthic zone.
Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish, for which intrinsic parameters are traditionally regarded as the significant factors determining the stock's population dynamics, while extrinsic factors are traditionally ignored.
Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters – being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore – in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reefs.
Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes. They occupy the sea floors and lake beds, which usually consist of mud, sand, gravel or rocks. In coastal waters they are found on or near the continental shelf, and in deep waters they are found on or near the continental slope or along the continental rise. They are not generally found in the deepest waters, such as abyssal depths or on the abyssal plain, but they can be found around seamounts and islands. The word demersal comes from the Latin demergere, which means to sink.
The black dogfish is a species of dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae. It is common over the outer continental shelf and continental slope at depths of 180–2,250 m (590–7,380 ft). Females generally inhabit deeper water than males, and depending on the region, smaller sharks may occur at different depths than larger ones. This species is distributed widely in the Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland and Iceland to Virginia and West Africa in the north, and off southwestern Africa and Argentina in the south. The largest member of its family, the black dogfish, typically measures 60–75 cm (24–30 in) long. It has a stocky, dark brown body that is darker below than above, and bears scattered, minute bioluminescent organs. Its two dorsal fins are preceded by stout spines, and the anal fin is absent.
The common ling, also known as the white ling or simply the ling, is a large member of the family Lotidae, a group of cod-like fishes. It resembles the related rocklings, but it is much larger and has a single barbel. This species is unrelated to the pink ling, Genypterus blacodes, from the Southern Hemisphere. The common ling is found in the northern Atlantic, mainly off Europe, and into the Mediterranean Basin. It is an important quarry species for fisheries, especially in the northeastern Atlantic, although some doubts exist as the sustainability of the fisheries. As an edible species, it is eaten fresh, frozen, or dried, but also preserved in lye, while the roe is a delicacy in Spain.
The kitefin shark or seal shark is a species of squaliform shark in the family Dalatiidae, and the only species in its genus. It is found sporadically around the world, usually close to the sea floor at depths of 200–600 m (660–1,970 ft). With a sizable oil-filled liver to maintain neutral buoyancy, this shark is able to cruise slowly through the water while expending little energy. The kitefin shark has a slender body with a very short, blunt snout, large eyes, and thick lips. Its teeth are highly differentiated between the upper and lower jaws, with the upper teeth small and narrow and the lower teeth large, triangular, and serrated. Its typical length is 1.0–1.4 m (3.3–4.6 ft).
Stephanoberycidae, the pricklefishes are a family of fishes in the order Stephanoberyciformes.
The whiskery shark is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae, and the only member of its genus. This common shark inhabits the Australian continental shelf from Western Australia to the Bass Strait, to a depth of 220 m (720 ft). It is demersal in habits and prefers rocky and vegetated habitats. Stout-bodied and almost "humpbacked" in form, the whiskery shark can be distinguished from all other members of its family by the presence of long nasal barbels. Its two moderately large dorsal fins are roughly equal in size. It is brownish gray above and lighter below, with a pattern of darker saddles and blotches in younger sharks. This species reaches 1.6 m (5.2 ft) in length.
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean consisting of the part of the water column near to the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of the larger profundal zone.
Scyllarus arctus is a species of slipper lobster which lives in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is uncommon in British and Irish waters, but a number of English-language vernacular names have been applied, including small European locust lobster, lesser slipper lobster and broad lobster.
Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod. Although there is a fourth species of the cod genus Gadus, Alaska pollock, it is commonly not called cod and therefore currently not covered here.
Plaice is a common name for a group of flatfish that comprises four species: the European, American, Alaskan and scale-eye plaice.
Marine habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea. A habitat is an ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species. The marine environment supports many kinds of these habitats.
Anatoly Petrovich Andriyashev was a Soviet Russian ichthyologist, marine biologist, and zoogeographist, notable for his studies of marine fauna of the Arctic and the Northern Pacific.
The fishing industry in Denmark operates around the coastline, from western Jutland to Bornholm. While the overall contribution of the fisheries sector to the country's economy is only about 0.5 percent, Denmark is ranked fifth in the world in exports of fish and fish products. Approximately 20,000 Danish people are employed in fishing, aquaculture, and related industries.
Electric pulse fishing is a fishing technique sometimes used in trawl fisheries which produces a limited electric field above the seabed to catch fish. The pulse trawl gear consists of a number of electrodes, attached to the gear in the tow direction, that emit short electric pulses. The electrodes replace the tickler chains that are used in traditional beam trawl fishery. The pulse trawl fishery is mainly aimed at flatfish like sole, with by-catch plaice. In addition, the pulse trawl gear is applied in shrimp fisheries on a limited scale. Technically, the use of electricity to catch fish is prohibited in European waters. However, the European Union is able to provide exemptions to this rule since 2007. These exemptions are now mainly used by Dutch and British trawlers in the North Sea.
Imants (Monty) George Priede is a British-Latvian zoologist, author and academic. He is Professor Emeritus in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland known for his work on fish and life in the deep sea.
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