208 



Fishery Bulletin 101(2) 



1995 



E 

 2 



600 



400 







150- 



75 





 1000 



500 

 

 1500-1 

 750 



OH 

 50O- 



250- 





 250 

 125- 







July 24-28 

 n = 366 



I I I I I M I I I I I I M I 



Aug 23-26 

 n = 166 



1997 



Ajg 4-7 

 n = 1257 



I I I I I I I M I I I I 



Ajg 19-23 

 n = 382 



fl^n-TTTTTTTTTTTTT-n 



Sept 2-4 

 n = 1993 



fl% 



JL 



I M I I I I I I M I I I I I I 



Sept 15-17 

 n = 3503 



1996 



400 

 200- 





 500 





Aug 12-17 

 n = 1145 





 100 



M I I I I I I M I I I I I 



Ajg 26-29 

 n = 973 



I M I M I M I I I I I I 



Sept 9-12 

 n =479 



100-1 

 50- 



20 n 

 10 





 10 



5- 







Sept 23-27 

 n = 205 



Oct 7-12 

 n =23 



I I I M I M I I 

 Oct 26 - 27 

 n = 



I M I M I M I M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



10-1 



5 





 600 

 300 







1200n 

 600 

 



1998 



Ajg 3-4 

 n = 5 



I I I I I M I I I 



\ig 17-21 

 n =2147 



I I I I I I I M I M I M 



rmrrfT^m 



Sept 30- Oct 1 150- 

 n = 1743 '5 





 150 

 75 

 



Oct 14, 15, 28, 29 

 n = 1012 



1 



I I I I I I I I I M I I I I { 

 9 13 17 21 25 29 





Sept 14-17 

 n = 2692 



I M I I I I I I I 



Sept 28 • Oct 1 

 n = 703 



n = 565 



I I I M II Ifll I I I I I'll I I II llTl I I I 

 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 



Fork length (cm) 



Figure 6 



Size composition of young-of-year bluefish by collection date during 1995-98 

 from northern New Jersey ocean beaches. 



YOY leave estuaries and join those in the ocean and make 

 a southerly migration to overwintering habitats (Kendall 

 and Walford, 1979; and see Able and Fahay, 1998) as water 

 temperatures decline to below 15°C (Lund and Maltezos, 

 1970; Olla and Studholme, 1971). The occurrence of YOY 

 in ocean waters in the fall has been reported elsewhere 

 (Chiarella and Conover, 1990; McBride and Conover, 1991; 

 McBride et al., 1993; Creaser and Perkins, 1994; Able and 

 Fahay, 1998). 



It is clear that YOY bliicfish in ihv New York Bight use 

 estuaries extensively (Kendall and Walford, 1979) and this 

 use has been reported for a number of locations including 

 Rhode Island (McBride et al., 1995), Long Island (Nyman 

 and Conover, 1988; McBride and Conover, 1991), New 

 Jersey (Fig. .3 in this pa[)i'r; McBride and Conover, 1991; 

 Rountree and Able, 1992a, 1992b, 1993; Able and Fahay, 



1998) and North and South Carolina (McBride et al., 1993). 

 As a result, YOY bluefish have been considered estuarine 

 dependent (McHugh, 1966). However, it is not surpris- 

 ing that they also occupy other habitats such as ocean 

 beaches because bluefish are widely distributed (Juanes 

 et al., 1996), and YOY elsewhere have been found in the 

 surf (Bennett, 1989; Avvazian and Hyndes, 1995), along 

 exposed coasts (van der Elst, 1976; Smale, 1984; McBride 

 et al., 1993; Lenanton et al., 1996; Young et al., 1999) and 

 shallow reefs (Bennett, 1989) in the South Atlantic Bight 

 of the United States, Australia, and South Africa. 



This annual pattern of abundance in the ocean in the 

 study area could be dependent on the relative contribution 

 of different cohorts. Although there has been much discus- 

 sion of the importance of spring- versus summer-spawned 

 individuals to the YOY population in estuaries in the 



