where do the anchovies go?

In the winter?

Monterey Bay....Aquarium

Ceasar Salad

I thought this was fish talk, not wise guy central! 

 The same place Shad go. from my understanding, No one has ever seen a shad in the ocean. I have always wondered the same thing. Randall

Based on watching to the episodes of Blue Planet (the great BBC series by David Attenborough) on the worlds oceans with my children, I gather that Achovies, Herring (which come into Nororthern California bays to spawn  about this time of year I think), and other small fishes go to the deeper ocean to escape the storms which create a nasty envirornment near shore for little pelagic fish. But of course I am speculating.

<This space reserved for someone how actually knows like BSteves *hint*>

Sorry, I've been ignoring this topic a bit.  I spent some time looking for an actual scientific article that actually studied this.  So far I haven't found anything concrete yet, I'm sure it's out there in some obscure NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service report.  Anyway, from what little I can gather, I believe Mr. Marmot is probably right, anchovies seem to move deeper in the winter.  All of the winter distribution maps I've found suggest that they're still out there, but the maps themselves give no indication of depth an are usually plotted on such a broad spatial scale, that distance from shore is hard to interpret and it could be that they are simply out a few miles. 

Has anyone actually tried looking for anchovies in the winter?   For the past few years, I haven't done much fishing in the winter do to closures so I wouldn't know whether or not the anchovy schools are missing or not.

Brian

 Anything about the Shad?
   Randall

I had CQ (Charge of Quarters for the home front today) so I decided to take the girls to the HMB Pier for a little fishing and lunch at HMB Brewery (he-he: watching the girls build my thirst). While everyone caught a few Jack Smelt, the interesting sight was watching a Cormorant herd a bait ball of 4-inch Smelt, then dive and surface right in the middle of them always snatching one. The bird repeated this for 10 minutes driving the ball around the pier and rip-rap. That bird got stuffed--i swear its stomach visibly grew during that period! We also saw a Pelican catch 4 or 5 at a time and then, as they bristled from its bill, Sea Gulls would reach in and try to steal them right out of its beak. I saw what looked like schools of Mackeral cutting up bait in the middle of the harbor but they never came within casting distance. A kayak, a kayak, my kingdom for a kayak (apologies to William Shakespeare). Although it would have had to be a triple today.

No sign of Anchovies at all. Perhaps they are already moving out into deeper water.

I have never seen or heard of an anchovy in the winter. rarer than albies @ new brighton.

smells like a research topic for enterprising grant getters!

J

I did a yahoo search and all I got were recipes,   

I'm curious now, maybe I'll ask Jevees

Craigh

Google search led me to ... http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/0142.pdf

"In he winter, anchovies usually move to deeper water offshore, and in the spring they return to inshore shallow waters.  Spawning is mostly within 60 mi of the coast, although it has been recorded up to 300 mi offshore.  Anchovies stay near the bottom in the daytime and come to the surface at night."

-Allen

sounds a little too pat for me.

I think they are partying hard!

J

It only makes sense really which is why I guessed it: these are fragile and vulnerable little fish. The last thing they want is to be exposed to the violent Pacific Ocean of Winter as it hits shallow water--thye'd be dazed and confused and easily eaten. Darwin's evolution at work: the Anchovies with the gene to give them the instinct to migrate in Winter survived in greater numbers to dominate over time compared to those who stayed shallow whose genes gradually lost influence due to diminishing numbers because they were eaten in greater numbers than those who left. Charles Darwin was a brilliant man. But then so is Richard Dawkins...but I digress.

why do they come to the shore in the summer? why not just stay out in the deep water?

J