FISH LARVAE OF THE ESTUARIES AND COAST OF CENTRAL MAINE 



Stanley B. Chenoweth^ 



ABSTRACT 



Seasonal sampling of fish larvae in the central Maine coast took 22 kinds of larvae; 17 

 were identified to species, 3 to family, and 2 were not identified. Larvae of a few highly 

 abundant species were present in the winter and early spring. These hatched from 

 demersal eggs and were concentrated ih the upper estuaries. The remaining species 

 were less abundant and were present during the spring and summer. Most of these 

 larvae hatched from pelagic eggs and were not greatly concentrated in the upper estu- 

 aries. The larvae of only one commercially important species, Clupea harengus harengus, 

 were found abundantly in the region. 



I 



There is little information on the species com- 

 position and abundance of larval fishes in the 

 numerous estuaries and bays of the coast of 

 Maine. During the past 10 years (1961-70) 

 samples of larval herring have been taken in the 

 central area of the Maine coast for a program 

 of research on the prerecruit stage of the her- 

 ring. In three of those years (1961, 1968, and 

 1970) other fish larvae also were identified. An 

 examination of the first year's catch was reported 

 by Graham and Boyar (1965). This paper re- 

 ports on the 1968 and 1970 identifications and 

 gives a more complete picture of the seasonal 

 abundance and spatial distribution of the larvae; 

 it also compares the results with surveys in other 

 adjacent areas. 



The area sampled is a system of drowned river 

 valleys and bays typical of the Maine coast. It 

 is bounded on the west by the Sheepscot estuary 

 and on the east by the Damariscotta estuary, 

 extends offshore approximately 4 miles to lat 

 43°45'N, and will be referred to in this report 

 as the Boothbay region. The general ecology 

 of the Sheepscot estuary was described by Stick- 

 ney (1959) , and the hydrography of the area was 

 reported by Graham and Boyar (1965). The 

 portion of the Sheepscot estuary sampled during 

 this study is 14 miles long, has a drainage area of 

 148 square miles, varies from 20 to 60 m in depth. 



' Northeast Fisheries Center, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, NOAA, West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575. 



Manuscript accepted June 1972. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 1, 1973. 



and is more typical of a long, narrow bay than 

 an estuary. The portion of the Damariscotta 

 estuary sampled is 11 miles long, has more fresh- 

 water dilution in its upper portion than the 

 Sheepscot, and has a smaller drainage basin. The 

 bay separating the two estuaries is a typical 

 coastal indentation with relatively deep water, 

 steep rocky shores, and very little freshwater 

 dilution. 



Other surveys of fish eggs and larvae from 

 areas close to the coastal Gulf of Maine are 

 pertinent to this study. Perlmutter (1939) and 

 Wheatland (1956) identified the larvae from 

 Long Island Sound, and Merriman and Sclar 

 (1952) from Block Island Sound. Herman 

 (1963) reported on the fish eggs and larvae of 

 Narragansett Bay, R.I., and Pearcy and Rich- 

 ards (1962) on those of the Mystic River estu- 

 ary, Conn. Marak and Colton (1961), Marak, 

 Colton, and Foster (1962), and Marak, Colton, 

 Foster, and Miller (1962) have reported for the 

 oflfshore area of Georges Bank and the Gulf of 

 Maine, and Fish and Johnson (1937) for the 

 Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy. 



METHODS 



Eight stations were sampled twice a month 

 from January through August 1968 and from 

 November 1969 through October 1970 (Figure 

 1). Additional information was available from 

 occasional sampling in 1971. The larvae were 



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