Cephalopod paralarvae and upwelling conditions off Galician waters (NW Spain)

A total of 103 cephalopod paralarvae were sampled during June 1995 inGalician waters (NW Spain). Samples were taken with Bongo nets of 300 and500 m mesh size at 48 sampling stations along10 transverse transects ranging from 80 to 600 m water depth. Paralarvae ofloliginid squid were most abundant (40%). TheRhynchoteuthion paralarvae of ommastrephid squidaccounted for 25%, whereas sepiolids comprised 23% of the total sample.Octopods were scarce, at only 6.6%. Other cephalopod families accounted for5%. Sizes of paralarvae ranged from 1.0 to 7.1 mm mantle length.Temperature and salinity distribution showed the presence of an intenseupwelling during the survey period. The sampling data obtained before andduring the presence of upwelled water off Rias of Pontevedra and Vigo(southern zone) showed that paralarval cephalopod abundance anddistribution were closely related to the upwelled Eastern North-AtlanticCentral Water (ENACW).