Predation by Atlantic herring, sprat, and sandeels on herring larvae in large enclosures

We conducted a predation experiment in 15.5 m3 in situ enclosures to estimate the predation potential of various juvenile and adult fishes on larval Atlantic herring Clupea harengus.Predators were herring, sprat Sprattus sprattus, and sandeels Hyperoplus lanceolatus and Amrnodytes tobianus.Herring consumed significantly fewer larvae in 24 h with less variability in the results than the other predators.Mean instantaneous daily mortality rate for herring was 0.001 (0.1 % d-l) whereas it was 0.392 (32 % d-l) for all the other predators.These values are 2.3 to 3.5 times those obtained in previous studies for jellyfish predators in enclosures.They are also greater than field estimates of natural mortahty for herring lanrae of comparable size, suggesting that encounters between herring larvae and larger fishes are rarer in the sea than in our experiment.