167 



Abstract.— Although juvenile fish are 

 studied extensively in estuarine and 

 nearshore environments, surprisingly 

 little is known about the basic habitat 

 requirements of juveniles for offshore 

 settlement and nursery areas. Between 

 June 1996 and July 1997, settlement 

 and nursery habitats of age-0 (early 

 juvenile) demersal fish on the conti- 

 nental shelf of the New York Bight 

 were investigated by using a two-meter 

 beam trawl. Replicate tows at 21 sta- 

 tions along three cross-shelf transects 

 (20-95 m depth), were sampled on a 

 near monthly basis to determine gen- 

 eral ecology (21,309 fish collected in 659 

 tows). Of the 47 species collected, 33 

 included age-0 juveniles, and 25 included 

 near-settlement size individuals. The 

 two dominant species, Pleuronectes fer- 

 rugmeus and Merluccius biliuearis, con- 

 stituted 88.9'/f of the total catch of age-0 

 fish. Of all age-0 fish, 94"^ were collected 

 during summer and fall. Comparisons of 

 weighted means and the use of canoni- 

 cal correspondence analysis determined 

 that settlement and nursery habitats 

 across the shelf are primarily delin- 

 eated by depth, temperature, and time 

 of year. Three zones across the shelf 

 (inner, middle, and outer) each had dis- 

 tinct juvenile fish assemblages. Knowl- 

 edge gained about the distribution and 

 quality of juvenile habitat for commer- 

 cially important offshore species should 

 facilitate their improved management. 



Settlement and nursery habitats for 

 demersal fishes on the continental shelf 

 of the New York Bight* 



Brian P. Steves 



Marine Sciences Research Center 

 State University of New York at Stony Brook 

 Stony Brook, New York 11794-5000 

 Present address: Manne Invasions Laboratory 



Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 



648 Contees Wharf Road 



Edgewater, Maryland 21037 

 E-mail address Stevesg'serc siedu 



Robert K. Cowen 



Marine Sciences Research Center 



Stale University of New York at Stony Brook 



Stony Brook, New York 11794-5000 



Mark H. Malchoff 



New York Sea Grant Program 

 3059 Sound Avenue 

 Riverhead, New York 1 1901 



Manuscript accepted 7 December 1998. 

 Fish. Bull. 98:167-188 ( 1999). 



With the decrease in fish abun- 

 dance in the latter half of the twen- 

 tieth century, particularly in the 

 Northwest Atlantic (McHugh, 1972; 

 NEFSC, 1992), fisheries managers 

 have been concerned with both over- 

 fishing and habitat degradation. 

 Much effort has been put into under- 

 standing the abundance, distribu- 

 tion (Colton, 1972; Colvocoresses 

 and Musick, 1984), and environ- 

 mental preferences (Scott, 1982; 

 Auster et al., 1991; Felley and 

 Vecchione, 1995) of adult ground- 

 fishes in the northwestern Atlan- 

 tic. Although information on adult 

 groundfishes is useful, events during 

 the early life history of fish may 

 be more important in determining 

 recruitment variability (Sissen- 

 wine, 1984; Houde, 1987; Peterman 

 et al., 1988; Bradford, 1992; Miller, 

 1994). Several ichthyoplankton sur- 

 veys have helped to increase our 

 understanding of egg and larval 

 distributions of groundfishes in the 

 Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB; Morse 



et al., 1987; Cowen et al. 1993). 

 However, less is known about the 

 juvenile stage, which represents 

 a dramatic change in lifestyle for 

 groundfishes: they leave the three- 

 dimensional environment of the 

 plankton and settle onto the two- 

 dimensional world of the sea floor 

 (Chambers and Leggett, 1992). 



Within this two-dimensional envi- 

 ronment, the growth, survival, and 

 recruitment of groundfishes are 

 affected by various factors associ- 

 ated with the quality (value for 

 growth) and quantity (area) of their 

 nursery habitat (Gibson, 1994). Re- 

 search involving the nurseries of 

 groundfishes has been limited to 

 estuaries and nearby coastal habi- 

 tats where they can readily be stud- 

 ied (Riley et al., 1981; Able et al., 

 1989; Bolle et al., 1994; Henderson 

 and Seaby, 1994; Nash et al., 1994; 



' Contribution 1179 of the Marine Sciences 

 Research Center, State University of New 

 York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 

 11794-5000. 



