YOUNG OP SOME MARINE FISHES IN LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY, VA. 101 



SUMMARY 



1. The area of study is located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and is bounded 

 roughly by Cape Charles and Cape Henry on the east, Lynnhaven Roads on the south. 

 Old Point Comfort on the west, and Back River Light on the north. 



2. A series of collecting stations was visited, usually weekly in summer and bi- 

 weekly in winter, to determine the seasonal and geographic distribution and variation 

 of the marine plankton. The present paper deals only with the young fishes taken 

 in this plankton. 



3. Forty-five species of fishes were recognized in the plankton. Thirty-one 

 species were identified and 14 remain unidentified. Larval and postlarval stages of 

 the gray sea trout, or weakfish, Cynoscion regalis; the bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix; 

 the harvestfish, Peprilus alepidotus; the butterfish, Poronotus triacanthus; and the 

 stargazer, Astroscopus guttatus, are described and figured. 



4. Collections of juvenile gray sea trout by seine and trawl indicate that this food 

 fish attains an average total length of 16 to 20 cm. (6.3 to 7.8 in.) at the end of its first 

 year of growth in lower Chesapeake Bay. 



5. Brief distributional and descriptive records for the planktonic young of 31 

 species of marine fishes are given. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Bkjelow, Henry B., and Welsh, William W. 



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 Clark, R. S. 



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 Eioenmann, Carl H. 



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 Hildebrand, Samuel F. 



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and Schroeder, William C. 



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and Cable, Louella E. 



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