1. Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (IBSS) Nakhimov Av. 2, Sevastopol 99011, Crimea, Ukraine, e-mail: shulman@ibss.iuf.net Long-term monitoring of the Black Sea sprat fat content for indication of stock condition ( its health and food supply) G.E.Shulman

2. Main equations: F p = F c / F d,(1) WHERE: F p – FOOD PROVISION (OR SUPPLY), F c – CONSUMED FOOD, F d – DEMAND FOOD F p = f (A b, A c1,…, A cn, T, L,…, X 1,…, X n ),(2) WHERE: A b – BIOMASS OF FOOD ORGANISMS, A c1,…, A cn – BIOMASS OF CONSUMERS, T – TEMPERATURE, L – LIGHT, X 1,…, X n – DICOUNTED FACTORS ΔW, ΔE = f (F p ),(3) WHERE: ΔW – GROWTH INCREASE, ΔE – ENERGY ACCUMULATION

3. Sprat sampling locations in the Black Sea. 1: northwestern part of the sea (off the eastern Crimea); 2: western part of the sea (off Romania and Bulgaria); 3: eastern part of the sea (off Caucasus).

4. Long-term variability of fat content of the Black Sea sprat and main periods (bottom of figure) in its dynamics 8.0 10.0 12.0 196019651970197519801985199019952000 14.0 16.0

5. Long-term variability of sprat stock biomass in the Black Sea (after Domashenko et al. 1985, Chashchin 1998);

6. Relationship between sprat fat content and stock biomass The correlation coefficient was estimated without including the data corresponding to 1986 and 1987

7. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 1960196219641966 1968 197019721974 1976 19781980 1982 19841986 1988 1990 Zooplankton biomass, mg m –3 Long-term variability of food mesozooplankton biomass (without Noctiluca) in the northwestern part of the Black Sea (after Kovalev et al. 1998)

8. Long-term variability of total phytoplankton biomass in the Black Sea a) average annual biomass in NW part of the Black Sea (Mashtakova, Roukhiyanen, 1979) b) total Summer biomass in the Black Sea (Mikaelyan, 1996) a b

9. Relationship between sprat fat content and phytoplankton biomass in the northwestern Black Sea

10. Relationship between sprat fat content and phytoplankton biomass in the Black Sea

11. Sprat fat content Second principal component PC2 (Daskalov, 2003 ) Sprat fat content dynamics compared to the 2 nd principal component of the Black sea ecosystem variability

12. List of species with similarity of catch value with Black Sea sprat fat content

13. Long-term dynamics of sprat fat content with recent data included

14. MAIN AUTHOR'S REFERENCE Shulman GE (1974) Life Cycles of Fish. Physiology and Biochemistry. Hulsted Press, John Wiley and Sons, New-York, 253 pp Shulman GE & Love RM (1999) The Biochemical Ecology of Marine Fishes. In: Advances in Marine Biology, v.36, Academic Press, London, 352 pp Shulman G.E, Nikolsky V.N, Yuneva T.V., Minyuk G.S., Shchepkin V.Ya., Shchepkina A.M, Ivleva E.V., Yunev O.A., Dobrovolov I.S., Bingel F., Kideys A.E. (2005) Fat content of Black Sea sprat as an indicator of fish food supply and ecosystem condition. Mar.Ecol.Prog.Ser., 293:201-212.

15. (1) Data on fish fatness (as it has been demonstrated on the example of the Black Sea sprat) are effective indicator that characterize one of the most important features of stock condition: their food supply. (2) This indicator closely connects with other characteristics of stock condition (first of all with their biomass). (3) Due to fast determination, possibility of obtaining large number of field samples fish fatness can be used as indispensable parameter for monitoring of population and stock condition as well as pelagic ecosystem as whole. CONCLUSION