ABSTRACT
The Greek philosopher Aristotle in 300 BC was the fi rst who paid attention to the behaviour of fi sh and noticed that coastal and pelagic fi sh behave differently in terms of their environmental preferences, favoured by rainy winters or high temperatures depending on the species. The term “habitat” refers to the space a species occupies, and where certain environmental conditions are met. Thus, for small pelagic fi sh, habitat can be defi ned as a three dimensional space characterized by certain oceanographic, geographical and biotic features. Small pelagic fi sh population dynamics are largely driven by environmental conditions (Fréon et al. 1999) making it obvious that understanding the traits and dynamics of small pelagic fi sh spatial distributions is closely related to their successful management.
