Bering wolffish COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 8

General Biology

Reproduction and Growth

Very little is known about the biology of the Bering wolffish. What is known has been compiled through analysis of specimens captured in the northwestern Pacific. Andriyashev (1954) reports a large female (112cm) with well-developed eggs, taken in late May from Avachinskaya Bay, Kamchatka. As is typical for the family, the eggs are large, with diameters reported to be 4.0 to 4.5cm (Barsukov, 1959). The number of eggs produced by females is unknown. A report of a larva cast aboard a ship during a storm in May in the Bering Sea (Andriyashev, 1954) indicates that larvae are pelagic. Young Bering wolffish were described by Kobayashi (1961) based on two specimens that were collected in June and August from the Sea of Okhotsk in the late 1950s. A 21-mm specimen has been illustrated by Matarese et al. (1989).

Barsukov (1959) estimated that maturity may be reached at 15 to 17cm. Fishes of 41cm, 70cm, 112cm were aged to be 4+, 8+, and 17+ years old, respectively. The species is relatively long-lived and slow-growing.


Nutrition and Interspecific Interactions

Analysis of stomach-contents reveals a diet of benthic invertebrates such as crabs and molluscs. Knowledge of dietary requirements of the Bering wolffish is very limited. Andriyashev (1954) reports that hermit crabs and shells of Buccinum and Neptunea were found in the stomachs of wolffish. Benthophagy in the Arctic may limit the Bering wolffish to highly localized sites where shallower water, reduced ice scour and warmer temperatures allow sizeable benthic invertebrate populations to develop. This may be the reason for the apparent patchy distribution of the species, as well as a potential explanation as to why the Bering wolffish is not found in the eastern Arctic, where deeper, colder inshore habitats predominate (Houston and McAllister, 1990).

Smith (1977) hypothesizes that the Bering wolffish may be a part of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida) diet, based on his observations of ringed seal predation on Anarhichas denticulatus (Northern wolffish), another species of Arctic/subarctic wolffish.

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