Able et al.: Early life history of Centropnstis striata 



431 



al. 2 ). More temporally intensive sampling with beam Results 



trawls (2-m, 6-mm mesh) was conducted outside Little 

 Egg Inlet in southern New Jersey in the vicinity of 

 Beach Haven Ridge at the LEO- 15 site (Fig. 2). Addi- 

 tional length-frequency information was adapted from 

 an environmental impact study in 1974 at this site 

 (Table 1). In the Great Bay-Little Egg Harbor estua- 

 rine system (Fig. 2), juveniles were collected with otter 

 and beam trawls and traps over several years in a va- 

 riety of habitats and depths (Table 1). For all samples, 

 larval size was recorded as notochord length (NL) or 

 standard length (SL), and juveniles as total length (TL). 

 Visual observations and video records of juveniles 

 and available habitat at several locations in the study 

 area in inner continental shelf waters were made 

 during 1991 and 1992 (Table 1). Near Beach Haven 

 Ridge, 30-m transects were made across a variety of 

 habitat types during 1992. 



2 Byrne, D. M., A. W. Burnett, and D. J. Vareha. 1990. Inventory 

 of New Jersey coastal waters. New Jersey Div. Fish, Game, and 

 Wildl., Trenton, NJ, 39 p. 



Temporal and spatial distribution of larvae 



Black sea bass reproduction throughout the mid-At- 

 lantic Bight occurs over a fairly prolonged period on 

 the basis of occurrence of larvae from April through 

 November (Fig. 3; Table 2). It appears that repro- 

 duction progresses seasonally from south to north 

 on the basis of collections off Virginia and North 

 Carolina as early as April, and off New Jersey and 

 Long Island beginning in July (Fig. 3). The smallest 

 larvae (2-3 mm NL) occurred off New Jersey from 

 July through October (Table 3). At Beach Haven 

 Ridge off southern New Jersey, larvae (4-12 mm TL) 

 were collected in late July and early August. 



Larvae occurred in samples from April through 

 November and into January in the mid-Atlantic 

 Bight, although their occurrence varied with geo- 

 graphic location (Table 2; Fig. 3). For all regions, the 

 peak in abundance was from July through Septem- 

 ber or October (Table 2). The largest larvae collected 



