File:The Canadian field-naturalist (1973) (20520622615).jpg

Title: The Canadian field-naturalist
Identifier: canadianfieldnat1973otta (find matches)
Year: 1973 (1970s)
Authors: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
Subjects:
Publisher: Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

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1973 Bleakney and McAllister: Fishes Stranded During Low Tides 375
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Figure 4. Upper Sabellaria tube-worm zone showing ice-scoured trenches running diagonally from incoming tide. Stones in foreground and in centerground beside the basket (shown again in Figure 2) were transported by blocks of ice. (23 June 1971; 2.1' tide.) Discussion Twenty-one species were collected or ob- served on the Minas Basin tide flats. Benthic or benthopelagic species predominated and En- chelyopus cimbrius, Myoxocephalus scorpius, Cyclopterus lumpus, Liparis atlanticus, and Lophius americanus had not previously been reported from Minas Basin. The reduced salinity of the basin, 29.0 to 30.5 reported by Bousfield and Leim (1960) and the discharge of the Avon and Schuben- acadie watersheds is reflected in euryhalinity of one third of the species. These are either an- adromous, catadromous, or brackish-water tolerants. Species stranded are deprived of the liquid medium upon which their vertical equilibrium depends and thus the presence of benthic fishes with flattened bodies, such as skates and floun- ders, and those with large broad-base heads like the sculpins, liparids, and goosefishes is to be expected. The turbidity fostered by extreme tides also presents potential difficulties, for Robins (1957) reported that much of the mortality in shore fishes during storms can be attributed to wave-disturbed sediments which clog the gills. Whether there has been selection for improved filtering mechanisms in Minas Basin populations has yet to be determined. Tomcod, the com- monest Basin species, hake, and rockling are provided on the chin and filaments on the pelvic fin with barbels which bear taste buds (Herrick 1903), enabling these species to find food even though turbidity prevents visual prey location. Most of these species thus have one or more adaptations fitting them to live in this extensive Minas Basin intertidal zone with its dynamic semi-diurnal tides of nearly 50-foot amplitude.

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