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Abstract

Total lipids in anchovy and sprat were measured and interpreted as indicators of their nutritional condition and food supply for the period 2005 to 2010. High lipid content in anchovies suggested that they were able to found sufficient food and favorable environmental condition supporting their stock biomass on a certain level which was strongly limited by heavy fishing. Wide inter-annual fluctuations in anchovy landings could be caused by variability in yearly recruitment and due to shifts in the spatial distribution patterns of the exploited stock. Unlike anchovy, lipid reserves in sprat declined remarkably to the lowest levels recorded during the 50-year observations period. Such a significant worsening in sprat nutritional condition followed the evident warming of the Black Sea and coincided with a sharp decline in sprat catches off Crimea. Thus, the deterioration of food supply together with intensive fishing could have contributed to the reduction of that local sprat stock.

Can Fish and Shellfish Species from the Black Sea Supply Health Beneficial Amounts of Bioactive Fatty Acids?

“…Kocatepe and Turan [20] presented higher TL content (13.90 g.100 g −1 ww) for anchovy and shad (A. alosa, 18.12 g.100 g −1 ww) from the Black Sea (Sinop region). Comparing the sprat TL content with our previous work [23] and for anchovy [34,35], comparable results are observed.…”

“…Our results differ from published data for the same species from the different regions of the Black Sea and other sea basins. Fluctuations in lipids among the seasons and locations reflect the biological adaptation of the organisms to the changes in the environment [ 12 , 34 ]. The commercial fishing in the Bulgarian Black Sea waters takes place from depths up to 100–120 m, where seawater has low temperature (reaches 7 °C in February).…”

“…Pelagic and demersal species inhabiting these depths tend to accumulate lipids in order to overwinter at these low temperatures. TL content could be also used as an indicator of the nutritional and ecological status of the sea region because of the direct relationship between lipids and food availability [ 34 , 35 ]. Nikolsky [ 34 ] and Shulman [ 35 ] reported large fluctuations in TL content of S. sprattus and E. encrasicolus ponticus from the Crimean and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.…”

“…TL content could be also used as an indicator of the nutritional and ecological status of the sea region because of the direct relationship between lipids and food availability [ 34 , 35 ]. Nikolsky [ 34 ] and Shulman [ 35 ] reported large fluctuations in TL content of S. sprattus and E. encrasicolus ponticus from the Crimean and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Kocatepe and Turan [ 20 ] presented higher TL content (13.90 g.100 g −1 ww) for anchovy and shad ( A. alosa, 18.12 g.100 g −1 ww) from the Black Sea (Sinop region).…”

“…Some authors [ 11 , 12 ] reported significantly lower TL values for the Black Sea M. barbatus , in the range 3.1–8.3 g.100 g −1 ww. In contrast, Brauer [ 34 ] presented very low TL amounts for N. melanostomus from the Western Baltic Sea (0.64–1.0 g.100 g −1 ww). In our previous work [ 15 ], comparable results for the Black Sea N. melanostomus were reported.…”