Deep-water shrimp (Crustacea: Penaeoidea) off the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Gulf of Mexico): a potential fishing resource?

摘要

Shrimp fisheries in the Mexican Gulf of Mexico arc limited to the 100-m-depth contour. We investigated potential penaeoidean shrimp resources on the continental slope of the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Gulf of Mexico) during 2 research cruises conducted during spring 1999 (cruise 1; number of hauls, 21; depth range, 300-599 m) and 2007 (cruise 2; number of hauls, 27; depth range, 300-999 m). During both cruises, the catch included 6 penaeoidean species: Aristaeomorpha foliacea, Aristaeopsis edwardsiana, Pleoticus robustus, Aristeus antillensis, Penaeopsis serrata, and Parapenaeus politus. The first 3 species constituted 85% and 91% of the total catch in weight obtained during cruise 1 and cruise 2, respectively. During cruise 1, the mean (+or-SE) biomass (1.05+or-0.25 kg/ha) and catch per unit effort (CPUE: 3.21+or-0.75 kg/h) of the combined species did not differ significantly between 100-m-depth strata. During cruise 2, by contrast, mean biomass and CPUE differed significantly between strata, with the highest mean values at the 600-699-m stratum (biomass, 1.37+or-0.61 kg/ha; CPUE, 5.14+or-2.30 kg/h) and the lowest at the 300-499-m stratum (biomass, 0.03+or-0.01 kg/ha; CPUE, 0.10+or-0.04 kg/h). High CPUE values (>=5.0 kg/h) were more prevalent at depths of 400-499 m during cruise 1 and 600-699 m during cruise 2. Mean size of shrimp differed significantly between and within species, except for A. foliacea. On average, our CPUE values compare with values obtained in fisheries for deep-water penacoideans around the world, and also with current CPUE values from the shallow-water shrimp fisheries in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, suggesting that these deep-water shrimp represent a potential fishing resource.