At greater depths hard substrates become more common; they are occupied by red algal communities: at 3–4 m depth by Polysiphonia fucoides and from 4 to 16 m by Furcellaria lumbricalis ( Bučas 2009). The most conspicuous macrozoobenthos species on the hard substrates are blue mussels Mytilus trossulus and bay barnacles Balanus improvisus ( Olenin & Daunys 2004). The Baltic herring spawning grounds were mapped in 2009–2010 during the spawning period (March–May). In the 2009 season the sampling points were evenly

distributed (the average distance between the sampling points was approximately 800 m) over the F. lumbricalis biotopes, reported to be the most important for Baltic herring spawning in Lithuanian coastal waters ( BaltNIIRH 1989, Olenin selleck chemical & Labanauskas 1995, Maksimov et al. 1996, Fedotova 2010) ( Figure 1). In the 2010 season sampling efforts were concentrated in the central part of the study area, where high resolution (1.9 × 1.9 m per pixel) multibeam bathymetry (KU MARSTEC, unpublished data) opportunistically became available. This data allowed the small geomorphological bottom features to be derived for the assessment of their role in the

distribution of Baltic herring spawning beds. Baltic herring eggs are relatively small (<2 mm) and semi-transparent, therefore hardly detectable by remote methods (e.g. underwater video), especially in GDC-0980 cell line low visibility conditions. Field data were collected by SCUBA divers. At each sampling point the diver recorded the presence/absence of Baltic herring eggs and spawning substrate. Additionally, a benthic sample was collected from the substrate using a 0.04 m2 frame (Kautsky 1993). The benthic samples were analysed using a Nikon Eclipse E200 microscope to confirm the presence/absence of eggs, and developmental stages (from a to q) were distinguished according to Veersalu & Saat (2003). In 2009–2010 93 points were sampled by SCUBA divers. Opportunistic

data from five occasional findings TCL of Baltic herring eggs in 2006–2008 (KU MARSTEC unpublished data) were added (Table 1, Figure 1). The total data consisted of 98 sampling points, 56 of which were in the multibeam area (Figure 1). The samples were collected at depths from 3 to 14 m, whereas most of them within the 5–10 m depth interval (Figure 2). Weather conditions were very calm during the 2009 season, allowing us to perform an additional detailed survey of a single spawning bed: five transects, the lengths of which ranged from 46 to 149 m (Figure 3). The presence/absence of Baltic herring eggs was recorded by divers who used a floating buoy to signal their findings and position to the crew on the boat. During the same season the sampling window was relatively wide (22 days) with more or less evenly distributed sampling dates, which allowed egg development to be monitored.