FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 73, NO. 3 



Table 1.— Summary of results of 8-h on-board feeding experiments with first-feeding anchovy larvae. Gymnodinium splendens 

 appeared in the chlorophyll maximum layers (chl. max.) from Malibu to San Onofre, a distance of approximately 130 km. The subsurface 

 bloom of G. splendens at San Onofre persisted until 8 April 1974 (see no. 7 below). A storm on 9 April obliterated the maximum and 

 evidently dispersed the G. splendens by wind mixing (see Figure 3). 



i( ) = number of G. splendens per milliliter. 



^Particles smaller than 20 [x,m may have contributed to the elevated chlorophyll a at this station. 



3This 5% figure represents only one larva which filled its intestine V4 full. 



Table 2.-Controls for the experiments reported in Table 1. Surface water was 

 seeded with Gymnodinium splendens or Brachionus plicatilis. In each instance the 

 results showed that the larvae on shipboard were competent to feed. Feeding time 

 was 8h. 



those with eight or fewer particles in the intestine 

 after an 8-h feeding period. The largest proportion 

 of larvae did not feed at all, a result common to 

 laboratory experiments as well. The feeding in- 

 tensity at Malibu, Seal Beach, and San Onofre is 

 typical of first-feeding anchovy larvae in labora- 

 tory experiments seeded with a like number of 

 suitable size particles, e.g., G. splendens. 



The data presented in Table 1 show that the 

 criteria for larval anchovy feeding determined by 

 laboratory experiments are the same when freshly 



obtained seawater is tested as a source of larval 

 anchovy food. Large numbers of particles smaller 

 than 37 ^um in diameter did not stimulate feeding 

 in anchovy larvae. This was particularly apparent 

 at Seal Beach on 21 March; surface water having 

 218 particles/ml smaller than 37 /xm in diameter 

 but with low chlorophyll a did not stimulate 

 anchovy larvae to feed. Conversely, the bloom of G. 

 splendens in the chlorophyll maximum layer 

 produced heavy feeding larvae tested in shipboard 

 experiments. Furthermore, even with particles 



458 



