Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) and anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) abundance as related to temperature in the senegalese waters

We report the use of generalized additive models to define possible thermal windows related to high abundance of Sardinella aurita and Engraulis encrasicolus in Senegalese waters. Landing data from 1999 to 2009, considered as an abundance index, remotely sensed thermal data (sea surface temperature, SST from AVHRR Pathfinder V5) and a temporal variable (month) were used to construct the models. The results from this work suggest that high abundance of round sardinella and anchovy was closely related to SST. High abundances of round sardinella and anchovy were associated with different temperature ranges, 21.0 to 25.0 °C and 22.0 to 23.0 °C, respectively. However, temperature corresponding to the highest abundance of round sardinella and anchovy were very close (22.7 °C and 22.3 °C respectively). Indeed, it might exist an optimal temperature window for these two species in Senegalese water might exist.