Preliminary information on inshore demersal fish from the Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula, in the 1999/00 summer season

A total of 1103 inshore notothenioid fish were caught by means of trammel-nets in four sites surrounding Cierva Point (Moss Island 1; Moss Island 2; Sterneck Island and Leopardo Island), Danco Coast, West Antarctic Peninsula, in the summer season of 2000. The families Nototheniidae, Channichthyidae and Bathydraconidae were represented being Notothenia coriiceps the dominant fish of the area. Gobionotothen gibberifrons and Trematomus newnesi followed in importance. In general, the ichthyofauna agreed in terms of number and mass with that of the South Shetland Islands area, except for a marked higher occurrence of G. gibberifrons in the Danco Coast. This supports the hypothesis that the commercial fishery around the South Shetland Islands at the end of the 1970s was responsible for the decrease in the inshore population of G. gibberifrons in that area during the last seventeen years. Information on reproduction and diet of the fish species caught are provided. The diet analysis showed general agreement on the feeding types and feeding behaviour of these fish species in other areas.