Ichthyoplankton of the St. Lawrence Estuary: Composition, Distribution, and Abundance

1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1518-1531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Able

The composition, distribution, and abundance of ichthyoplankton in the St. Lawrence estuary, including adjacent portions of the Saguenay River and the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence, were investigated during June–July 1973, June–October 1974, and May–September 1975. The eggs and larvae of 25 species from 14 families (principally osmerids, gadids, cottids, cyclopterids, and pleuronectids) were represented. The larvae, in every year, were almost exclusively forms with demersal eggs. Larvae were consistently more abundant in the upper estuary during every sampling period due to its use as a major spawning and nursery area for several species. Both eggs and larvae were most abundant in June and July. Probable spawning times, areas, and growth of larvae are discussed for selected species. Key words: ichthyoplankton, St. Lawrence estuary, distribution, larvae, osmerids, gadids, cottids, cyclopterids, pleuronectids


1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lebel ◽  
E. Pelletier ◽  
M. Bergeron ◽  
N. Belzile ◽  
G. Marquis

The large difference between the alkalinity of the fresh waters of the St. Lawrence River (1.475 mmol∙kg−1) and the Saguenay River (0.134 mmol∙kg−1) was used to locate the region on the St. Lawrence estuary which is under the influence of the Saguenay River. This method has the advantage over classical measurements such as salinity and temperature that it is independent of the upwelling of deep water in this region. Data was obtained in the St. Lawrence estuary near the mouth of the Saguenay fjord using a network of 33 stations at slack low tide and 23 stations at slack high tide. The results show that, at low tide, Saguenay water forms a plume which extends more than 10 km from the mouth of the fjord into the estuary. At high tide the plume is restricted to the surface layer as the Saguenay waters are pushed back into the fjord.



1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1380-1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno F. d'Anglejan ◽  
Eric C. Smith

The distribution of total suspended matter in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River was studied by quantitative filtration through membrane filters. Tidal fluctuations in the vertical gradients of suspensoids were followed at fixed stations along the estuary. The concentrations varied from nearly 40 mg/1 below near Ile d'Orléans, to values less than 1 mg/1 at the downstream end of the upper estuary near the Saguenay River entrance. The tidal mean concentrations for the fixed stations ranged from 20 mg/1 to 2 mg/1. A turbidity maximum, which develops because of entrapments of particles by the tidal circulation, extends for 100 km below Quebec City. In this zone large vertical gradients changing in intensity with the tide by resuspension of settled material exist above the bottom. The total suspended matter is 60% to more than 90% inorganic by weight, and has a mean particle size between 5 and 7 μ. The annual rate of transport of suspended material out of the upper estuary at a section near the Saguenay River is estimated at less than 1 × 106 metric tons.Chemical and mineralogical analyses were performed on 23 suspensoid samples collected by centrifuging large volumes of water. The clay mineral composition of the less than 2 μ fraction is on the average 1.5% montmorillonite, 8% kaolinite, 31% chlorite, and 60% illite. However, large time and space variations are found both in the chemistry and mineralogy of the suspended matter.



1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (7) ◽  
pp. 1226-1235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Réjean Hays ◽  
Lena N Measures ◽  
Jean Huot

To determine abundance of larval Anisakis simplex in euphausiids of the St. Lawrence estuary, Meganyctiphanes norvegica and Thysanoessa raschii were collected at seven sites from the mouth of the Saguenay River to Baie des Outardes. Larvae were removed from euphausiids by means of a modified Baermann apparatus filled with a pepsin-HCl digest solution. Abundances of larvae in euphausiids ranged from 0 to 58.2 × 10-5. Larvae (N = 100) were in the third stage (bearing one cuticle) or moulting from the second stage to the third stage (bearing two cuticles). Euphausiids, particularly T. raschii, which represented 98% of the total euphausiids sampled, are important intermediate hosts of A. simplex in the St. Lawrence estuary. These data indicate the importance of the St. Lawrence estuary as an enzootic zone for A. simplex and thus a valuable area to study the biology and the transmission of this parasite.



1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 1610-1616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Vaillancourt ◽  
Jean-Claude F. Brêthes ◽  
Gaston Desrosiers

A study on the growth in size and weight of the Winter Flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum), was conducted from samples collected during the summers of 1979 and 1980, in the bay of Saint-Fabien-sur-Mer (Québec) on the south shore of the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary. Age was determined by otolith readings and length–weight relationships were calculated. Linear growth equations were not statistically different for males and females. On the other hand, weight was found to be higher for females than for males of equal sizes. This relationship also varies with the sampling period, and a substantial weight increase follows the spawning period. The growth of P. americanus is slower in the estuary than in more southern areas, while the weights at equal sizes are higher. These results reflect the severe environmental conditions, which necessitate a large accumulation of food energy by the fish as reserves, to the detriment of growth.



1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 978-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Pelletier ◽  
J. Lebel

This paper proposes the use of total alkalinity as a mixing index at the mouth of Saguenay fjord on the St. Lawrence estuary. The large difference in the total alkalinity between the fresh waters from the St. Lawrence River (1.475 meq/kg) and those from the Saguenay River (0.134 meq/kg) allows us to define and calculate a dilution factor relative to total alkalinity (δAt), which is very sensitive to the presence of the fjord marine water in the estuarine mixing area both at the surface and at depth. The authors show the advantage of use of the dilution factor (δAT) in comparison to some other classical oceanographic parameters such as temperature, salinity, density, and dissolved oxygen.



2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 7609-7622 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Alkhatib ◽  
P. A. del Giorgio ◽  
Y. Gelinas ◽  
M. F. Lehmann

Abstract. The distribution of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and carbon (DOC) in sediment porewaters was determined at nine locations along the St. Lawrence estuary and in the gulf of St. Lawrence. In a previous manuscript (Alkhatib et al., 2012a), we have shown that this study area is characterized by gradients in the sedimentary particulate organic matter (POM) reactivity, bottom water oxygen concentrations, and benthic respiration rates. Based on the porewater profiles, we estimated the benthic diffusive fluxes of DON and DOC in the same area. Our results show that DON fluxed out of the sediments at significant rates (110 to 430 μmol m−2 d−1). DON fluxes were positively correlated with sedimentary POM reactivity and varied inversely with sediment oxygen exposure time (OET), suggesting direct links between POM quality, aerobic remineralization and the release of DON to the water column. DON fluxes were on the order of 30 to 64% of the total benthic inorganic fixed N loss due to denitrification, and often exceeded the diffusive nitrate fluxes into the sediments. Hence they represented a large fraction of the total benthic N exchange, a result that is particularly important in light of the fact that DON fluxes are usually not accounted for in estuarine and coastal zone nutrient budgets. In contrast to DON, DOC fluxes out of the sediments did not show any significant spatial variation along the Laurentian Channel (LC) between the estuary and the gulf (2100 ± 100 μmol m−2 d−1). The molar C / N ratio of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in porewater and the overlying bottom water varied significantly along the transect, with lowest C / N in the lower estuary (5–6) and highest C / N (> 10) in the gulf. Large differences between the C / N ratios of porewater DOM and POM are mainly attributed to a combination of selective POM hydrolysis and elemental fractionation during subsequent DOM mineralization, but selective adsorption of DOM to mineral phases could not be excluded as a potential C / N fractionating process. The extent of this C- versus N- element partitioning seems to be linked to POM reactivity and redox conditions in the sediment porewaters. Our results thus highlight the variable effects selective organic matter (OM) preservation can have on bulk sedimentary C / N ratios, decoupling the primary source C / N signatures from those in sedimentary paleoenvironmental archives. Our study further underscores that the role of estuarine sediments as efficient sinks of bioavailable nitrogen is strongly influenced by the release of DON during early diagenetic reactions, and that DON fluxes from continental margin sediments represent an important internal source of N to the ocean.



2021 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 112180
Author(s):  
Michael Zuykov ◽  
Galina Kolyuchkina ◽  
Graeme Spiers ◽  
Michel Gosselin ◽  
Philippe Archambault ◽  
...  


Author(s):  
Yves Paradis ◽  
Marc Pépino ◽  
Simon Bernatchez ◽  
Denis Fournier ◽  
Léon L’Italien ◽  
...  




1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 778-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Lobban

From a study of living materials and specimens in several regional herbaria, a list has been drawn up of all the common and several of the rarer tube-dwelling diatoms of eastern Canada. Descriptions, illustrations of living material and acid-cleaned valves, and a key to the species are provided. Most specimens were from the Atlantic Provinces and the St. Lawrence estuary, but a few were from the Northwest Territories. By far the most common species is Berkeleya rutilans. Other species occurring commonly in the Quoddy Region of the Bay of Fundy, and sporadically in space and time elsewhere, arc Navicula delognei (two forms), Nav. pseudocomoides, Nav. smithii, Haslea crucigera, and a new species, Nav.rusticensis. Navicula ramosissima and Nav. mollis in eastern Canada are usually found as scattered cohabitants in tubes of other species. Nitzschia tubicola and Nz. fontifuga also occur sporadically as cohabitants.



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