PACIFIC SAND LANCE Ammodyfes hexapterus WITH NOTESON RELAPSEDAmmodytes SPECIES L. Jay Fieldl 10ceanAssessment Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 1 BACKGROUND cies from the northwestern Pacific/Japan and the northwestern and northeastern Atlantic also will be cons~ 1. 1 Literature Search Two species of Ammodyres, AH and A. personarus AP!, havebeen reported from the north- An intensive literature search,except for Japaneseand westernPacific; AH generally is restricted to north of Soviet literature, which was not as thorough, was 45'N latitude Kitaguchi 1979!. The two speciesare completedin December1986, The emphasisof the distinguishedby meristic counts, with AH having the search was on the sand lance of the northeastern higher number of vertebrae and dorsal fin rays Pacific, including the Bering Sea. Lindberg 1937;Kitaguchi 1979!. Both speciesshow a greater number of vertebrae with increasing latitude Kitaguchi 1979!. Andriyashev954! consideredthem 1. 2 Unit Stocks and Their Relationships to be conspecific, and Hashimoto 984a! suggested that Ammodyres may be representedby three sub- The taxonomy of Ammodyres species is uncertain. speciesalong the coastof Japan. The speciesare primarily distinguishedon the basisof Two other species of Ammodyres, a northern geographicdistribution and meristic counts. However, offshore species,A. dubius AD!, and a southernin- meristic counts frequently exhibit wide variation and shorespecies, A. americanus AA!, havebeen reported latitudinal clines Richards et al. 1963; Reay 1970; from the northwesternAtlantic Reay 1970!. However, Winters 1970; Scott 1972b; Richards 1982!. In this overlap in geographicrange and clines latitudinal and report,the generalclassification scheme proposed by inshore-offshore! in meristic counts that may be Reay 970! will be followed. Ammodyreshexaprerus correlatedwith environmentalconditions suggeststhe AH! is the only sand lance reported from the possibility that only a singlespecies occurs in this area northeasternPacific Hart 1973!. They are found in Richards et al. 1963; Winters 1970; Scott 1972b; shallow nearshore waters froin California to the Richards 1982!. Two species,A. robianus AT! andA. Iteaufort Sea Trumble 1973; Craig 1984!. As detailed marinus AM}, are found in the northeastern Atlantic, taxonomic studies have not been carried out, the but only AM will be considered in this report, as AT relationship of AH to sand lance from other areashas does not resembleclosely the speciesfrom other areas not been determined. Consequently,Ammodyres spe- Reay 1970!. 16 / Species Synopses 1.3 The Fishery 1.5 Current Status of Stocks 1.3.1 Relative Size and Importance. Except for and of Management Measures occasional small bait fisheries in Washington and No information is available on the status of stocks of British Columbia, no fishery currently exists in the AH in the northeasternPacific, since no fishery northeasternPacific, although there is some potential currently exists and AH are not sampled by conven- Trurnble 1973!. In Japan the fishery takes about tional research trawls. 100,000ton pcr year Kitaguchi1977!. No fisheryfor sandlance exists in thenorthwestern Atlantic, although 1. 6 Recruitment Variability feasibility studiesindicate considerable potential R. Smith, Univ. New Hampshire, pers. comm.!. The Evidencefor AH recruitmentvariability is mainly European fishery landed 200,000 mt in 1968 Reay circumstantial. For example, the presenceor absence 1970!, of sandlance in seabirdstomachs has been noted during 1.3.2 Age at Recruitment. In Japan, sand lance trophic studies Vermeer 1979; Drury et al. 1981; AP! usuallyenter the fisheryat age 1, but 0-agefish Springer et al. 1984!. In Japan,there is considerable may enterlate in the season,particularly if the year variability in the percentageof 0-agefish in AH/AP class is strong Kitaguchi 1977!. In the North Sea, catches Hamada 1966a,b,c; Inoue et al. 1967; recruitmentto the AM fishery inay begin at agc 6 Kitaguchi 1977;Nagoshi and Sano 1979!, monthsbut most enter at age 1 Macer 1966;Reay Larval surveys in the northwestern Atlantic indicate 1970!. large interannualvariation in sand lance AA/AD! 1.3.3 Characteristicsof HarvestedFish. Lengthof recruitment. Between 1974 and 1979, abundance of AP/AH in the Japanesefishery rangesfrom 8 to 26 cm larval sandlance increasedby a factor of 20 Smith et Kitaguchi 1977!, In the northeasternAtlantic fishery, al. 1978;Sherman et al. 1981!, which reflects a 50-fold AM rangefrom 5-25 cm in length Macer 1966!. changein adultspawning biomass Meyer et al. 1979; 1.3.4 Typesand Selectivityof Gear, In Japan,a Morse 1982!. variety of seines,lift nets and bottom trawls are used for the sandlance fishery Inoue ct al. 1967!. Thc 1.7 Age Determination and Validation Europeanfishery primarily uses a highopening bottom trawl with a 6 mm cod-endmesh Macer 1966; Macer Age determination for sand lance speciesis basedon andBurd 1970!.The selection length for thisgear was surface readings of whole otoliths Kitakata 1957; estimatedto beapproximately 8-9 cm Reay1970!. Macer 1966; Scott 1968,1973;Reay 1970, 1972, 1.3.5 Distributionof FishingEffort, TheJapanese Kitaguchi1977; Winters 1981!. Validation of ageshas sandlance fishery takesplace in depthsof 80 m or less, beenattempted by observingthe annual pattern of ring in areasof sandand shell bottom Kitaguchi1977!. In formation Kitakata 1957; Reay 1972; Kitaguchi southernareas, the AP fishery runs from mid-March to 1977!. lateJune Inoueet al. 1967!,but at higherlautudes the seasonis somewhatlater, sometimesextending from 1.8 Age Composition of April to December Kitaguchi 1977!. the Population The EuropeanAM fisheryis conductedin depthsof In sandlance fisheries, age composition is apparently lessthan 40 m in sand-bottomareas, primarily on off- subjectto variationwith time of year,area and gear in shorebanks Macer1966!. The fishing season extends additionto interannualdifferences Inoue et al. 1967!. from April to September,with very low catchesat AH collectedby beachseine from the vicinity of other times of the year Macer 1966;Reay 1970!. KodiakIsland, Alaska, ranged from age0 to 5, with Fishingtakes place almost exclusively during daylight age 1 fish mostabundant Dick and Warner 1982!. hours Macer 1966!. However, differencesin age composition betweenAH collectedby beachseine and those dug from gravel 1.4 Distribution and Abundance beachesindicate that beachseines were not effective in of the Population samplingolder age classes Dick andWarner 1982!. In northernareas of Japanwhere both AP and AH Sand lance are abundant in shallow ncarshore areas. occur,most of thecatch is composedof ages1-3, and fish overage 4 areuncommon; there is someevidence Pacific Sand Lance / 17 of interannual variability Kitaguchi 1977!. In con- 2.1.3 Fecundity. Fecundity-lengthrelationships F trast, in the Seto Inland Sea fishery, 0-age fish com- = number of eggs, L = length in cm! have been deter- prise about 80% of the catch and age-2 fish less than mined as follows: 5% Inoue et al. 1967!, whereas in the Harima-Nada and OsakaBay fishery, age-1 AP accountfor 20-77% AA: F = 0.328 L = 3.857 Westin et al. 1979!; of the catch Hamada1966a!. AM: F = 2.046 L = 3.055 Macer 1966!, Macer 966! reported that the percentageof older Sandhnce probably AM! between 120 and 195 mm fish AM! in the catch decreasedduring the last part of standard length! off the Murrnan coast had between the season, and Winslade 974c! suggested this was 3300 and 22,I00 eggs average 6800! per female due to age related differences in timing of over- Andriyashev 1954!. wintering see 2.2.5!. The maximum age of AD in Newfoundlandis age 10 or over Winters 1983!. Ages 2. 2 Distribution and Abundance 3-5 predominatein the survey catches,but the relative abundanceof AD older than age 6 hasbeen increasing 2.2.1 Duration of Spawning. Most information for since the late 1970s Winters 1983!. In the the time of spawning of sand lance is based on the oc- northeasternAtlantic, the maximum age of AM is 9, currenceof early larvae. In Puget Sound,Washington, but ages 1-3 account for the majority of the catch yolk-sacAH larvaeare mostabundant in late January Reay 1970!. to early March R. Trumble, Washington Dep. Fisheries,pers, comm.! and spawningoccurred in outdoor holding tanks in mid-March Pinto 1984!. Off 2 ADULTS the west coastof VancouverIsland, larval AH beganto occur in February Mason et al, 198la, b!. Larval 2.1 General Description surveys in the Kodiak region indicated late winter February-March! spawning Rogers et al. 1979; 2.1.1 Size and Age Ranges. Based on a small Kendall et al. 1980!. However, Dick and Warner samplesize n=7! of mature fish, AH in the vicinity of 982! reportedintertidal spawning off Kodiak!slandin Kodiak Island, Alaska, matureat ages2-3; the smallest October.Spawning of sandlance AH/AP!in theSoya mature sand lance observed was 128 mm Dick and Strait region of Japan occurred between January and Warner 1982!. In the Soya Strait region of Japan, early May, and there was some evidence of interannual most sand lance AH/AP! spawn at the end of their variation Ki taguchi 1977!. secondyear but some spawnat age 1 Kitaguchi 1979!. 2.2.2 Large-scalePatterns. In general,sand lance Most AP from Ise Bay to the south mature at ages 1-2 occurin shallownearshore areas, usually in depthsless at lengths greater than 110 mm Nagoshi and Sano than100 m, with sandor sand-gravelsubstrates. They 1979!. are abundant from spring to late summer and In the North Atlantic, AA usually are mature 02- uncommonduring the remainder of theyear when they 114 m! at the end of their first year Richards 1982!. presumably are buried in the sand Leim and Scott Scott I968! reportedthat mostAD matureat age2 at 1966; Reay 1970; Trumble 1973!. While inshore- lengths between 180 and 200 mm, whereasWinters offshoremovements have been reported by a numberof 983! found that 50% were matureat age 3 at 180mm authors,there is no evidenceof large-scalemigrations in length. Most AM are matureat age2, but large of any sandlance species Reay 1970!. AH juveniles 00 mm! individualsmay matureat age 1 Macer and adultsare commonly abundantin nearshorewaters 1966!.