FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70. NO. 4 



During September only the four northern tran- 

 sects were sampled and the only larva taken was 

 off Barnegat Inlet, N.J. (Figure 10). During 

 October larvae ranged from Great Egg Inlet, 

 N.J., to Currituck Light, N.C. In November 

 four larvae occurred between Cape Henlopen, 

 Del., and Ocracoke Inlet, N.C. (Figure 10). 



The larvae ranged from 2,1 to 13.0 mm SL 

 (Figure 12). Among the cruises the mean size 

 of larvae was nearly constant. The length-fre- 

 quency curve indicates that we undersampled 

 small larvae (< 4 mm), probably because they 

 were extruded through the meshes of the net. 

 Comparisons of mean lengths of larvae taken 

 during day and night and in shallow and deep 

 tows for the individual cruises were made. Lar- 

 vae in the deep net were slightly larger than 

 those in the shallow net. Day-night differences 

 in size were inconclusive (Table 2). Geograph- 

 ic variations in size are not apparent. 



A comparison of fish caught per successful 

 tow in shallow and deep tows taken during day 

 and night shows that more fish were taken in 

 shallow than in deep tows and more were taken 

 at night than during day (Table 2). Our data 

 on size and diurnal and depth distribution of 

 the larvae indicate several things. More and 

 slightly larger larvae were taken at night than 

 during the day. Also, larvae in the deep net 

 were slightly larger than those in the shallow 

 net. More larvae were taken in the shallow than 



STANDARD LENGTH 



Figure 12. — Length distribution of black sea bass larvae 

 from RV Dolphin cruises, 1966. 



in the deep net. Thus it appears that larvae 

 are more abundant near the surface (0-15 m) 

 than deeper (18-33 m) waters and that visual 

 warning allows larger larvae to escape in near 

 surface waters, particularly during the day. 



DISCUSSION 



The general distribution of larvae and juve- 

 niles of black sea bass can be deduced from their 

 occurrence in several disjunct studies of estu- 

 aries and coastal waters of the Atlantic coast. 

 Early larvae (< 6 mm) have been found at the 

 mouth of Chesapeake Bay (Pearson, 1941), in 

 Long Island Sound (Perlmutter, 1939), and in 

 Narragansett Bay (Herman, 1963). The lack 

 of black sea bass larvae in some intensive sur- 



Table 2. 



June 



Aug. 



Sept. 



Oct. 



IMov. 



-Black sea bass larvae from 1966 RV Dolphin cruises. Total numbers, numbers per positive tow, and 

 lengths in shallow and deep tows by cruise and time of day. 



Day 

 Night 



Day 

 Night 



Day 

 Night 



Day 

 Night 



Day 

 Night 



32 

 72 



1.0 



6.4 

 9J0 



1.0 

 1.8 



I.O 



1.0 



4.6 



2.1- 5.5 

 2.8-10.7 



5.4 



4.3- 6.3 

 3.5- 6.1 



7.5 



5.2 



4.6 



3.7 

 5.4 



5.4 



5.5 

 5.1 



7.5 



5.2 



2 

 16 



4 

 2 



2.0 



1.0 

 3.2 



IX) 

 2.0 



5.5- 5.9 



5.4- 7.9 

 2.5-11.8 



3.6- 7.3 

 7.6-, 13.0 



5.7 



6.7 

 6.3 



5.5 

 10.3 



1256 



