AbStfclCt. This study focuses on 



composite field collections and in situ 

 observations from the mid-Atlantic 

 Bight continental shelf and a New Jer- 

 sey estuary in order to elucidate aspects 

 of the early life history of age 0+ black 

 sea bass, Centropristis striata. Spawn- 

 ing in the mid-Atlantic Bight is pro- 

 longed (April through November, with 

 a peak between June and September) 

 and is most intense in the southern 

 portion of this range. Between 1977 and 

 1987, larvae were collected between 

 Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and 

 Long Island, New York. In New Jersey 

 coastal waters larvae first appear in 

 July but can occur into November. Re- 

 cently settled individuals ( 15-24 mm 

 total length [TL]) were collected at an 

 inner continental shelf site and an ad- 

 jacent estuary from July through Oc- 

 tober. By fall, fishes from these areas 

 were 18-91 mm TL, and many had 

 moved offshore from New Jersey estua- 

 rine waters and other estuaries to in- 

 ner continental shelf waters between 

 southern Massachusetts and Cape 

 Hatteras. Subsequently, they continued 

 to move offshore and during their first 

 winter, they were concentrated near the 

 shelf or slope break in the southern 

 portion of the mid-Atlantic Bight. Some 

 age 0+ individuals moved back into 

 New Jersey estuaries in early spring, 

 at sizes approximating those of the pre- 

 vious fall (50-96 mm TL). Thus, black 

 sea bass reach relatively small sizes 

 after 12 months of growth partly be- 

 cause little or no growth occurs during 

 their first winter. This year class reached 

 sizes of 78-175 mm TL by midsummer 

 and 134-225 mm TL by the following fall. 

 During summer, benthic juveniles 

 were collected or observed primarily in 

 a variety of structured habitats. On the 

 inner continental shelf they were found 

 among accumulations of surfclam 

 Spisula solidissima valves or among 

 smaller pieces of shell, and occasionally 

 in burrows in exposed clay. While in the 

 estuary, they were collected from areas 

 with a variety of structured habitats, 

 such as shell accumulations in marsh 

 creeks and peat banks. The data sug- 

 gest that during their first summer, 

 black sea bass have similar densities 

 and growth rates in estuarine and in- 

 ner continental shelf habitats, and thus 

 both areas serve as nurseries. 



Early life history of black sea bass, 

 Centropristis striata, in the 

 mid-Atlantic Bight and 

 a New Jersey estuary* 



Kenneth W. Able 



Marine Field Station, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 



Rutgers University, 800 Great Bay Blvd., Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087 



Michael R Fahay 



National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center 

 Sandy Hook Laboratory, Highlands, New Jersey 07732 



Gary R. Shepherd 



National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center 

 Woods Hole Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 



Manuscript accepted 5 January 1995. 

 Fishery Bulletin 93:429-445 (1995). 



The black sea bass, Centropristis 

 striata, is an important component 

 of recreational and commercial fish- 

 eries along much of the east coast 

 of the United States (U.S. Dep. 

 Commerce, 1993). Despite its im- 

 portance we know relatively little 

 of the early life history of this spe- 

 cies (Kendall, 1972). The best efforts 

 to date are studies on larval distri- 

 bution (Cowen et al., 1993), with 

 comments on presumed estuarine 

 nursery areas (Kendall, 1972), and 

 studies on seasonal distribution and 

 size attained at different seasons 

 (Musick and Mercer, 1977) as well 

 as at the end of the first year 

 (Briggs, 1978). Faunal surveys in 

 the mid-Atlantic Bight from Mas- 

 sachusetts (Lux and Nichy, 1971), 

 New York (Perlmutter, 1939), New 

 Jersey (Bean, 1888; Nichols and 

 Breder, 1927), Maryland (Schwartz, 

 1961, 1964a), and Virginia (Hilde- 

 brand and Schroeder, 1928) have 

 also contributed to our understand- 

 ing of the seasonal distribution of 

 juveniles. A general summary of the 

 biology, population size, and fisher- 

 ies is provided by Kendall and Mer- 

 cer (1982). 



In this study we limit our obser- 

 vations to black sea bass in the mid- 

 Atlantic Bight, the area between 

 Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras, be- 

 cause this population is considered 

 a separate stock from those south 

 of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina 

 (Mercer, 1978; but see Bowen and 

 Avise, 1990). This interpretation 

 appears to be supported by studies 

 that show movements inshore and 

 north in spring and offshore and 

 south in the fall within the mid-At- 

 lantic Bight (Pearson, 1932; Nesbitt 

 and Neville, 1935; Lavenda, 1949; 

 June and Reintjes, 1957; Frame and 

 Pearce, 1973) but only localized 

 movements in the South Atlantic 

 Bight (Parker, 1990; Low and Waltz, 

 1991). Recently, variations in raer- 

 istic and morphometric character- 

 istics have led to the suggestion that 

 stock structure may not be homo- 

 genous within the mid-Atlantic 

 Bight (Shepherd, 1991). 



The objectives of this study are 

 to elucidate aspects of the reproduc- 



* Contribution 94-30 of the Institute of Ma- 

 rine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers Uni- 

 versity, New Brunswick, NJ. 



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