LEIS ET AL.: DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF BILLFISH LARVE 



is a further indication that very nearshore (and 

 near-reeD areas must not be excluded from stud- 

 ies of the larvae of epipelagic fishes. 



In summary, we found the highest concentra- 

 tions and abundances of istiophorid larvae of 

 three taxa very close to the windward face of the 

 Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea in late spring 

 and summer. Size-frequency analysis suggested 

 that these high concentrations of larvae were due 

 to spawning or at least hatching of eggs very close 

 to the reef. The larvae might be retained in this 

 forereef area of supposed down welling because, at 

 least during the day, they concentrate in the 

 upper few meters of the water column as preflex- 

 ion larvae and in the neuston as postflexion lar- 

 vae. These results have potentially important im- 

 plications for the study of the larval biology of 

 epipelagic fishes. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We thank the many people who helped take 

 and process the plankton samples reported upon 

 here, particularly E. Moodie, S. Reader, and 

 S. Thompson. T. Gob typed the manuscript and 

 S. Bullock provided editorial assistance. 

 T. Trnski and W. J. Richards commented on the 

 manuscript; Richards comments were particu- 

 larly valuable in that they led us to the proper 

 identification of black marlin larvae. This work 

 was supported primarily by Australian Marine 

 Science and Technology Grants 80/2016 and 83/ 

 1357 to Goldman and Leis, respectively, but also 

 by a Queen's Fellowship in Marine Science, Great 

 Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority grants and 

 Australian Museum grants to Leis. 



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