100 



Abstract— \\V fxamiiu'd the spatial 

 and temporal distribution, abundance, 

 and growth of young-of-the-year (YOY) 

 Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undu- 

 latus) in Delaware Bay, one of the 

 northernmost estuaries in which they 

 consistently occur along the east coast 

 of the United States. Sampling in Del- 

 aware Bay and in tidal creeks in salt 

 marshes adjacent to the bay with 

 otter trawls, plankton nets and weirs, 

 between April and November 1996-99, 

 collected approximately 85,000 YOY. 

 Ingress of each year class into the bay 

 and tidal creeks consistently occurred 

 in the fall, and the first few YOY ap- 

 peared in August. Larvae as small as 

 2-3 mm TL were collected in Septem- 

 ber and October 1996. Epibenthic indi- 

 viduals <25 mm TL were present each 

 fall and again during spring of each 

 year, but not in 1996 when low water 

 temperatures in January and Febru- 

 ary apparently caused widespread 

 mortality, resulting in their absence 

 the following spring and summer. In 

 1998 and 1999, a second size class of 

 smaller YOY entered the bay and tidal 

 creeks in June. When YOY survived the 

 winter, there was no evidence of growth 

 until after April. Then the YOY grew 

 rapidly through the summer in all hab- 

 itats (0.8-1.4 mm/d from May through 

 August). In the bay, they were most 

 abundant from June to August over 

 mud sediments in oligohaline waters. 

 They were present in both subtidal 

 and intertidal creeks in the marshes 

 where they were most abundant from 

 April to June in the mesohaline portion 

 of the lower bay. The larger YOY began 

 egressing out of the marshes in late 

 summer, and the entire year class left 

 the tidal creeks at lengths of 100-200 

 mm TL by October or November when 

 the next year class was ingressing. 

 These patterns of seasonal distribu- 

 tion and abundance in Delaware Bay 

 and the adjacent marshes are similar 

 to those observed in more southern 

 estuaries along the east coast; however, 

 growth is faster — in keeping with that 

 in other northern estuaries. 



Seasonal distribution, abundance, 

 and growth of young-of-the-year Atlantic croaker 

 (Micropogonias undufatus) in Delaware Bay 

 and adjacent marshes* 



Michael J. Miller 



David M. Nemerson 



Kenneth W. Able 



Marine Field Station 



Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 



Rutgers University 



800 c/o 132 Great Bay Boulevard 



Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087-2004 



Email address (for K. W. Able, contact author) ablea'imcsrutgers edu 



Manuscript accepted 20 August 2002. 

 Fish. Bull. 101(1):100-115(2003). 



Atlantic croaker (Micr-opogonias undu- 

 latus) is a commercial and sport fishery 

 species that inhabits demersal habitats 

 in estuarine, coastal, and continental 

 shelf systems along the Atlantic coast 

 of North America and in the Gulf of 

 Mexico (Joseph, 1972). They spawn 

 primarily over the continental shelf 

 during a protracted spawning season 

 that, based on the presence of larvae 

 along the Atlantic coast, may extend 

 from early July through March (Lewis 

 and Judy, 1983; Cowan and Birdsong, 

 1985; Warlen and Burke, 1990; Hettler 

 et al., 1997; Nixon and Jones, 1997; 

 Able and Fahay, 1998). The exact loca- 

 tion of spawning in the Middle Atlantic 

 Bight (MAB) may be related to the 

 areal extent of favorable warm bottom 

 waters for spawning (Norcross and 

 Austin, 1988) and may sometimes occur 

 within or close to the mouth of Chesa- 

 peake Bay (Barbieri et al., 1994b; Reiss 

 and McConaugha, 1999). The larvae 

 and postlarvae have been observed to 

 be more abundant in deeper layers of 

 water that may facilitate transport into 

 and retention within estuarine nursery 

 areas (Weinstein et al., 1980; Norcross, 

 1991). The young-of-the-year (YOY) 

 usually begin to enter estuaries and 

 tidal creeks along the Atlantic coast in 

 September, or occasionally August, and 

 they are often common components 

 of the fish fauna in tidal creeks and 

 estuaries until fall of the next year 

 from New Jer.sey southward along the 

 Atlantic coast and in the (lull'of Mexico 

 (Chao and Musick, 1977; Knudsen and 



Herke, 1978; Weinstein, 1979; Currin 

 et al., 1984; Ross, 1988; Able and Fahay, 

 1998). In some years there is a second 

 pulse of small YOY that arrives in 

 estuaries along the Atlantic coast in 

 the spring or summer; this pulse may 

 be the offspring from later spawning 

 (Chao and Musick, 1977; Ross, 1988). 

 In general, the YOY use estuarine 

 habitats with salinities ranging from 

 almost pure freshwater to seawater 

 (Miglareseetal., 1982). 



Although YOY Atlantic croaker are 

 present in some Atlantic coast estua- 

 rine habitats during the winter (Ha- 

 ven, 1957; Bearden, 1964; Dahlberg, 

 1972; Chao and Musick, 1977; Shenker 

 and Dean, 1979; Bozeman and Dean, 

 1980; Able and Fahay, 1998), they ap- 

 pear to experience winter mortality 

 in the MAB in years with unusually 

 cold winters (Massman and Pachcco, 

 1960; Joseph, 1972; Chao and Musick, 

 1977; Wojcik, 1978). Recent laboratory 

 studies have found that YOY Atlantic 

 croaker do not survive in sustained 

 water temperatures of 3°C or lower 

 I Lankford and Targett, 2001 ); therefore 

 extended periods of low winter water 

 temperatures may have drastic effects 

 on their overwinter survival in some 

 estuaries. 



Previous studies have indicated 

 that YOY Atlantic croaker reach about 

 107-187 mm TL after their first year 



Contribution 2002-22 from the Institute 

 of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers 

 University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. 



