Forty-three of the 44 juveniles collected 

 throughout this study were taken in May and 

 June, while none were caught in July, and only 

 one was taken in August. The high abundance of 

 these fish in the late spring and early summer 

 samples may indicate the presence of seasonal 

 variation in their distribution. 



During the sampling of each transect, a dis- 

 tinct boundary separating green coastal water 

 from blue oceanic water was generally observed. 

 All but one of the juveniles were taken west of 

 this front, on or beyond the 150 m isobath. Secchi 

 depths at the locations of capture of juveniles in 

 June and August 1981 ranged from 11 to 25 m. In 

 contrast, Secchi depths in the green coastal 

 water were generally <10 m. The abundance of 

 juveniles in the Coos Bay region is probably a re- 

 flection of the narrow continental shelf there and 

 the steep depth gradient within several kilo- 

 meters of shore. Blue oceanic water with Secchi 

 depths of 10-25 m was found to extend to within 

 5-10 km of the coast in June, and right up to the 

 beach in August. 



The fish taken offshore in 1980 ranged in size 

 from 68 to 509 mm SL, and weighed from 1.0 to 

 78.4 g. Juveniles collected inshore in 1981 ranged 

 in length from 70 to 245 mm SL and weighed 

 from 1.8 to 17.5 g. All 11 of the specimens >250 

 mm SL were taken offshore. The preserved 

 length-weight relationship of 40 undamaged 

 specimens can be summarized by a power curve 

 regression equation: W = 2.04 X 10" 4 L 206 (r = 

 0.99; Fig. 2). 



The specimens collected offshore in 1980 and 

 inshore in 1981 relied, as would be expected, on 



80- 



60- 



40 



5 



20- 



W = 204 x 10'" L 206 

 r 2 r0.99 



100 200 300 400 



Standard Length (mm) 



— I - 

 500 



Figure 2. — Length-weight relationships of 40 undamaged, 

 preserved juvenile king-of-the-salmon. 



different planktonic food sources. All specimens 

 contained at least some items in their stomachs, 

 but the total biomass per stomach was generally 

 <0.20 g and never exceeded 0.85 g. These low 

 weights are more a reflection of the size and 

 morphology of the fish than of low feeding rates. 

 Many of the specimens had their simple, tubelike 

 stomachs fully packed with prey. 



The offshore specimens fed extensively on an 

 hyperiid amphipod, Phronima sp. (Table 1). 

 Prey identified as Phronima were found in 15 of 

 the 21 stomachs examined, with a maximum of 

 16 Phronima per stomach. Crustacean parts 

 were found in 20 of these stomachs. These parts, 

 particularly leg and chela segments, generally 

 closely resembled Phronima. Other hyperiids 



Table 1.— Frequency of occurrence of prey taxaand maximum abundance of prey taxa in juve- 

 nile king-of-the-salmon stomachs collected at offshore stations (1980; N = 21) and inshore 

 stations (1981; N = 20) off the Oregon coast. 



163 



