Grenadiers of the World Oceans: Biology, Stock Assessment, and Fisheries

Abstract

<em>Abstract.</em>—Extensive trawling efforts off Taiwan, supplemented by collections from trawlers’ harvest at several local fishing harbors, have raised the total number of Taiwan’s grenadier fishes to 71 species in 18 genera and 3 families. Despite a relatively limited coastline (500 nautical miles), the species diversity in Taiwan is very high. The largest genus <em>Coelorinchus </em>(formerly known as <em>Caelorinchus</em>) is represented by 21 species, followed by <em>Ventrifossa </em>with 8, and <em>Nezumia </em>with 6. All other genera had five or fewer representatives. Five species were described based on specimens from Taiwan, and two of them, <em>Coelorinchus leptorhinus </em>and <em>C. sheni, </em>have not been reported elsewhere. A total of 33 species and 10 genera are newly recorded from Taiwan; these were collected only within the past two years. Because the maximum depth trawled only reached about 2,000 m in this study, it should be expected that more deeper-water grenadiers will be found in the future. Our depth-distribution data-set of collected specimens and depth ranges from 55 stations were insufficient to effectively separate the species into groups using multivariate statistical analysis. However, the factors influencing grenadier species composition in this study still can be recognized as per the following sequence: water depth, geographical region, and type of net. The vertical distribution of grenadiers in Taiwan appears to have a separation at 600 m and 1000 m. An annotated species checklist with ASIZP cataloged specimens documenting Taiwan distributions, and detailed collecting information, including body size, location, and depth range are provided.