The optimal enviromental window that controls hake (Merluccius merluccius) recruitment in the Cantabrian Sea

Abstract

Biological-physical data from 1993-2000 have evidenced the variability of the oceanographic scenarios in the Cantabrian Sea. A wide casuistic of summer upwelling has been shown. Year-to-year variability of hake recruitments is explained upon aggregation-dispersion of pre-recruits, and survival after area recruitment. Reversal of the current pattern above the continental shelf may affect first the aggregation pattern of larvae and then their survival via blockage of the trophic chain at the primary level.