Appendix B: Glossary Beam trawl - A conical-shaped net held open by an hori- Appendix B: Glossary zontal beam. At each end of the beam are iron frame- works that hold the net open in a vertical direction. ABC - See Acceptable Biological Catch. Benthic - Of, relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water (including the ocean). Abyss - The deepest part of the ocean. Berried - Bearing eggs. Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)- A term used by a management agency which refers to the range of allow- Bight - A name for the water body found abutting a large able catch for a species or species group. It is set each indentation in the coast. A bight is less enclosed than year by a scientific group created by the management a bay. agency. The agency then takes the ABC estimate and Billfishes - The family of fish that includes marlins, sailfish sets the annual total allowable catch (TAC). and spearfish. Advection - Horizontal or vertical movement of water. Bioaccumulation - The build-up over time of substances Allele - One of several variants of a gene that can occupy (like metals) that cannot be excreted by an organism. a locus on a chromosome. Biomass - The total weight or volume of a species in a Allozyme - A variant of an enzyme coded by a different given area. allele. Biosystematics - The study of relationships with refer- Amphipod - Laterally compressed, planktonic or benthic ence to the laws of classification of organisms; tax- crustaceans. onomy. Anadromous - Fish that migrate from saltwater to fresh Biota - Refers to any and all living organisms and the water to spawn. ecosystems in which they exist. Anaerobic - Living in the absence of oxygen. Biotoxin - Substances produced by organisms that can seriously impair living processes and in some cases Angler - A person catching fish or shellfish with no intent cause death. to sell. This includes people releasing the catch. Bioturbation - Disturbance of soft sediments by the move- Annuli - Annual variations in the pattern of growth rings ments and feeding activities of infauna (animals that live on fish scales. just beneath the surface of the sea bed). Aquaculture - The raising of fish or shellfish under some Bivalve - A mollusk with the shell divided into two halves; controls. Feed and ponds, pens, tanks, or other con- e.g. clams, mussels. tainers may be used. A hatchery is also aquaculture, but the fish are released before harvest size is reached. Brachiopod - A bivalve mollusk distinguished by having, on each side of the mouth, a long spiral arm, used to Artisanal fishery - Commercial fishing using traditional or obtain food. small scale manually-operated gear and boats. Brackish water - Water of reduced salinity resulting from a Ascidiacea - See Tunicate. mixture of freshwater and seawater. Bag limit - The number and/or size of a species that a Brail net - A small dip net used to scoop out portions person can legally take in a day or trip. This may or may of the catch from the main net and haul these portions not be the same as a possession limit. aboard. Brail nets are used to transfer tuna, salmon, Baitboat - Refers to a vessel that fishes with live bait. and sometimes menhaden from the purse seine to the Examples of target catch for baitboats include albacore boat’s hold. and other tunas. Broken and burnt otolith method - Otoliths are broken Baleen - A specialized plate of horny material used by and burned, revealing more accurate information about some species of whales (Mysticetes) to filter-feed. the age of a fish. Barbel - A slender flesh “chin whisker” found in many Bryozoa - A group of sessile colonial animals that are kinds of fishes. Barbels function primarily as sensory colonial invertebrates and live on hard surfaces. organs for locating food. Bycatch - The harvest of fish or shellfish other than the Bathymetry - The science of measuring depths in the species for which the fishing gear was set. Bycatch is ocean. also often called incidental catch. Some bycatch is kept Batoid - A skate or ray. for sale. CEQA - California Environmental Quality Act. CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME California’s Living Marine Resources: December 2001 A Status Report 567 Appendix B: Glossary CPFV - Commercial passenger fishing vessel. Cilia - Hair-like structures used for locomotion, and in CPS - Coastal pelagic species. some species, for feeding. CPUE - See Catch Per Unit of Effort. Cladogenesis - The branching of an ancestral lineage to form equal sister taxa (species, genera, families, etc.). Calanoid copepod - A crustacean zooplankton that has a barrel-shaped body, is found in all oceans of the world, Cladocera - Planktonic crustacea with a bivalved outer and is an important food source for many fishes. skeleton. Calcareous - Made of calcium carbonate. Clupeid - A member of the Clupeidae family of fishes. Clupeids include herrings, shads, sardines, and menha- Capelin - A small silvery fish, most common in the North den. They can be readily recognized by their keeled Atlantic. (sawtooth) bellies and silvery, deciduous scales. Caridean - An infraorder of the decapod crustaceans. Codend - The end of a trawl net. Fish are eventually Examples include many shrimps and prawns. pushed into the codend as the net is dragged along. Catadromous - Refers to fish that migrate from fresh Cohort - A group of fish spawned during a given period, water to saltwater to spawn. usually within a year. Catch - The total number or poundage of fish captured Coliform - A bacteria commonly associated with food poi- from an area over some period of time. This includes soning. fish that are caught but released or discarded instead of being landed. The catch may take place in an area Community - An ecological unit composed of the various different from where the fish are landed. Note that populations of micro-organisms, plants, and animals that catch, harvest, and landings are different terms with inhabit a particular area. different definitions. Congener - A member of the same genus. Catch Per Unit of Effort (CPUE) - The number of fish Convergence - The contact at the sea surface between caught by an amount of effort. Typically, effort is a two water masses converging, one plunging below combination of gear type, gear size, and the length of the other. time gear is used. Catch per unit of effort is often Copepod - A group of small planktonic, benthic or parasitic used as a measurement of relative abundance for a crustaceans. Copepods that spend their entire life in particular fish. the water column are usually the numerically dominant Caudal fin - Tail fin. group of zooplankton captured by nets in most marine Caudal peduncle - The tapered, posterior fleshy part of a areas. fish just in front of the tail fin. Coriolis effect - The deflection of air or water bodies, Cephalopod - Organisms belonging to the phylum Mol- relative to the solid earth beneath, as a result of the lusca that are nearly always carnivorous and are charac- earth’s eastward rotation. terized by complex behavior, a well-organized nervous Creel - A container used by anglers to hold fish. system, a circle of grasping arms, and a powerful beak. Crustacean - A group of freshwater and saltwater animals Examples include squid and octopus. having no backbone, with jointed legs and a hard shell Cetacean - A member of the order of marine mammals made of chitin. Includes shrimp, crabs, lobsters, and that includes whales, porpoises, and dolphins. crayfish. Chimaera - A member of a group of bottom-dwelling, Ctenophore - Gelatinous zooplankton having eight longi- invertebrate-feeding fishes. Distinctive characteristics tudinal rows of fused cilia (‘ctenes’) used in swimming. include an operculum that covers four gill openings, an Cultch - Material (as oyster shells) laid down on oyster upper jaw fused to the skull, teeth consisting only of a grounds that furnish points of attachment for the few large, flat plates, and no scales. young oyster. Chitin - A horny substance forming the hard part of the Cycloid - A round, flat, and thin fish scale found on fish outer skeleton of crustacea. such as trout, minnow, and herring. Chiton - Mollusks found commonly on hard substrates that Davit - A fixed or movable crane that projects over the side are ovalshaped and flattened, have eight dorsal plates of a boat or over a hatchway. It is used for hauling nets, which cover the dorsal mantle, and are herbivores. anchors, boats or cargo. Chum - To attract fish to a hook by throwing whole or Demersal - Describes fish and animals that live near chopped fish or shellfish into the water. water bottoms. Examples of demersal fish are flounder and croaker. California’s Living Marine Resources: CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 568 A Status Report December 2001 Density - dependent factors - Factors, such as resource Epipelagic zone - The upper region of the sea from the Appendix B: Glossary availablilty, that vary with population density. surface to about 200-300 meters depth. Depuration - Cleansing of bivalve shellfish by moving Epiphyte - A plant that grows on another plant. them from polluted waters to clean waters. Epipodium - A ridge or fold in the lateral edges of each Detritivore - An organism that feeds on detritus. side of the foot of certain gastropod mollusks. Detritus - Any loose material produced directly from rock Escapement - The percentage of fish in a particular fish- disintegration. ery that escape from an inshore habitat and move off- Diatom - One-celled phytoplankton with an external skel- shore, where they eventually spawn. eton of silica. Estuary - A partially enclosed body of water having a free Dinoflagellate - Unicellular plankton having two flagella connection with the open sea; within it salt water and and, in some species, a cellulose test. fresh water mix. Doliolaria - The second stage of the echinoderm (which Etiology - All the causes of a disease or abnormality.