440 



Fishery Bulletin 93(3), 1995 



1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 



1 6 1 1 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 



140 



Winter Survey 

 1992 



n- 1,015 



I^iWttITttt, 



1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 



Massachusetts Fall 

 Survey 

 1982 - 1991 



n - 58,859 



m iii Mn iiiiiii m iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



1 6 1116 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 



Total length (cm) 

 Figure 9 



Composite lengths of black sea bass, Centropristis striata, from bottom trawl surveys 

 in the mid-Atlantic Bight in (A) fall, (B) winter, and (C) spring, and in Massachusetts 

 waters during the fall (D). 



appears to follow a similar pattern of inshore-offshore 

 movements as indicated by catches in the estuary 

 over a number of years (Figs. 5 and 6). Thus this 

 annual pattern may be characteristic for age 0+ and 

 1+ black sea bass for the entire mid-Atlantic Bight. 



Nursery habitats 



There are inconsistencies between the available data 

 on larval distribution and presumed nursery areas 

 in southern New England. The northern limit of lar- 

 vae from MARMAP samples for the period 1977-87 

 was off Long Island (Fig. 3). Earlier studies noted 



the absence of black sea bass larvae from Block Island 

 Sound (Merriman and Sclar, 1952), Narragansett Bay 

 (Bourne and Govoni, 1988), Long Island Sound 

 (Wheatland, 1956; Richards, 1959), Great South Bay, 

 Long Island (Monteleone, 1992), and offshore of these 

 areas (Kendall, 1972). The only exception was the 

 collection of a few larvae from Georges Bank (Table 

 2), Cape Cod Bay (Scherer, 1984), and Narragansett 

 Bay (Herman, 1963). However, there was some docu- 

 mentation of spawning aggregations in southern 

 Massachusetts coastal waters (Wilson, 1889). 



Despite the scarcity of larvae in southern New 

 England, age 0+ individuals have been very abun- 



