Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2025
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E20
Höfundar / Authors: tba
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Hafrannsóknastófnun
Kynnir / Presenter: James Kennedy
Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) migrate to the coast of Iceland during spring and summer, and if not caught in the roe fishery, will spawn. The eggs are guarded by the males with the resultant larvae spending a few months in the coastal area before disappearing out to sea. Until recently, where they go and how long until an individual fish returns was a mystery? It is also thought that the females die shortly after spawning. Adult lumpfish, of a size similar to those found in the spawning area, are present offshore during the summer. The question is, are these fish that have spawned and returned to feeding areas, or fish that have delayed maturation. Piecing together information from pelagic surveys, gonads, otoliths, and tagging studies we can attempt to see if a coherent picture emerges. Almost all lumpfish between 20-30 cm long, which are likely 2 years old, were found to have begun ovary development, which indicates that the adult fish in the offshore area have spawned previously. This agrees with the tagging studies where adult lumpfish tagged before spawning will return the following year to spawn again. This also ties with the majority of lumpfish on the spawning ground being 3 or 4 years old, which suggests that most lumpfish will only spawn in a maximum of two spawning seasons. However, do the majority or the minority survive the first spawning year?