Identification and Mapping of Bottom Fish Assemblages in Northern Baffin Bay

Abstract

The bathymetry of Baffin Bay with shallow sills both to the north and south creates a relatively isolated body of deep polar water, unique among the Arctic Seas. During 105 trawl hauls completed during autumn 2004, 45 fish species were collected in the northern Baffin Bay between 72o 02' N – 76o 55' N, depth 150–1 418 m. As a first step the abundance data for the 40 benthic species were used for analyses of the fish fauna diversity and fish assemblages. Two species, Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) and the sea snail Liparis fabricii were very common and represented in large numbers in almost all trawl hauls. The two species dominated the outcome of the first run of the analysis and were removed from the analysis to allow an analysis of the remaining species. For those remaining 38 species, five assemblages were found by a standard type of cluster analysis. A Bayesian multinomial logit model was then applied to calculate vectors of probabilities defining the likelihood of each haul belonging to each of the five clusters. By means of a geostatistical tool the spatial distribution of the conditional probabilities for each cluster (assemblage) was mapped. Each of the five assemblages was further defined by indicator species, depth and temperature. The study is a continuation of a similar study using the same vessel, sampling scheme and analytical methods previously conducted in the southern part of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.