FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72. NO. 3 



DIRECTION OF TOW 



Figure 3. — Six sampling methods for V^-h plankton tows over different water depths. 



collection. I also removed several postlarvae 

 recognized as Merluccius sp. but which I presume 

 are M. alhidus, the postlarvae of which are 

 undescribed. 



We measured all specimens, except mutilated 

 ones, from the tip of the snout to the tip of the 

 notochord or urostyle with an ocular micrometer 

 or point-to-point dial calipers. Measurements 

 are expressed as millimeters notochord length 

 (mm NL) and recorded to the nearest 0.1 mm. 

 Because preservation resulted in shrinkage of 

 specimens, the recorded size of some larvae is 

 smaller than the reported hatching length of 2.8 

 mm (Kuntz and Radcliffe, 1917). 



RESULTS 



Egg and larval distributions are shown in Ap- 

 pendix Table 1 and Figures 4 through 8. A map is 

 not shown for the one egg and one larva caught 



off the Virginia coast on May 20 and 22, re- 

 spectively. 



Distribution of Eggs 



Eggs identified as silver hake for this report are 

 in stages III and IV of development, when the 

 embryo encompasses at least 759^ of the yolk and 

 the tail tip is separated from the yolk surface. Fine 

 pigment is present on the part of the yolk surface 

 lying under the snout of the embryo. This is not 

 shown by Kuntz and Radcliffe (1917). 



We collected 3,241 silver hake eggs from May 

 through November 1966, with a peak in June. The 

 temporal distribution of eggs changed geographic- 

 ally. Spawning began earlier in the northeastern 

 end of our survey area and progressively later to 

 the south. Table 2 demonstrates this trend for four 

 transect groups. According to Sauskan and Sere- 

 bryakov (1968), about half the total seasonal 



816 



