Fish spawning strategies in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The Mediterranean is globally considered an oligotrophic sea. However, there are some places or certain seasons in which mechanisms that enhance fertility may occur. These mechanisms, and related processes, are especially relevant in maintaining fish populations when they take place during the period of larval development. This contribution analyzes how environmental conditions occurring in the NW Mediterranean, at local and seasonal scales, determine the temporal and spatial patterns of fish reproductive activity in the region. The structure of the bathymetry, diversity of adult fish habitats and hydrodynamic mechanisms conditioning the primary production of the region (e.g., shelf-slope density front and associated current, continental water inflows, winter mixing, stratification of the water column) determine the location of spawning and the distribution patterns of fish eggs and larvae. [...]