427 



Larval and pelagic juvenile fishes 

 collected with three types of gear 

 in Gulf Stream and shelf waters in 

 Onslow Bay, North Carolina, 

 and comments on ichthyoplankton 

 distribution and hydrography* 



Allyn B. Powell 



Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research 



Beaufort Laboratory 



National Ocean Service, NOAA 



101 Pivers Island Road 



Beaufort, North Carolina 28516-9722 



E-mail address allyn powell(g)noaa gov 



David G. Lindquist 



University of North Carolina at Wilmington 

 Department of Biological Sciences and 

 Center for Manne Science Research 

 601 South College Road 

 Wilmington, North Carolina 28403-3297 



Jonathan A. Hare 



Center for Coastal Fishenes and Habitat Research 



Beaufort Laboratory 



National Ocean Service, NOAA 



101 Pivers Island Road 



Beaufort, Nortfi Carolina 28516-9722 



The fish fauna in waters off North 

 CaroHna is diverse, receiving contri- 

 butions from the Virginian, CaroHn- 

 ian, and Caribbean faunal provinces 

 (Gray et al, 1968; Schwartz, 19891. 

 South of Cape Hatteras exist hve- 

 bottom habitats, small areas of rock 

 outcroppings containing rich sessile 

 invertebrate communities and many 

 species of commercially and recre- 

 ationally important subtropical and 

 tropical fishes (Huntsman, 1976; 

 Miller and Richards, 1979). Little is 

 known about the patterns and source 

 of recruitment of many of these and 

 other fishes. Fahay (1975) sampled 

 a transect ofFNew River Inlet, North 

 Carolina, and Cape Fear, North Car- 

 Una, at quarterly intervals with a 

 surface-towed meter net. Eldridge 

 et al. (1978) examined the perfor- 

 mance of a 2 m X 1 m neuston net 



in waters off South Carolina. Powles 

 and Stender ( 1976) surveyed ichthy- 

 oplankton from Cape Fear, North 

 Carlina, to Cape Canaveral, Flor- 

 ida, vdth a standard ichthyoplank- 

 ton bongo sampler. Ichthyoplankton 

 research targeting live-bottom habi- 

 tats in Onslow Bay, North Carlina, 

 was recently conducted by Powell 

 and Robbins (1998), who provided 

 information on spatial and tempo- 

 ral spawning. The use of standard 

 ichthyoplankton samplers, however, 

 may introduce bias against the cap- 

 ture of late-lai-vae and early-juve- 

 niles owing to net avoidance (Shima 

 and Bailey, 1994); therefore little 

 information would be gained about 

 recruitment sources and patterns. 



The use of complementary gear 

 that could collect a series of pelagic 

 larval stages would be useful in 



understanding the source of recruits 

 to live-bottom and other habitats off 

 North Carolina. The spatial distri- 

 butions of larval stages could indi- 

 cate if recruitment is from local 

 populations, or other sources, (Leis, 

 1994; Booth and Brosnan, 1995). 

 However, the spatial distribution of 

 larval stages needs to be coupled 

 with oceanographic observations to 

 interpret the source of recruits. 



The major goal of our study was 

 1) to examine the effectiveness of 

 three gear types in collecting a com- 

 plete series of the pelagic larval 

 phase of reef fishes and associated 

 taxa, and 2) to examine the influ- 

 ence of short-term hydrographic 

 conditions on fish distributions. 



Materials and methods 



Sampling was generally conducted 

 in darkness aboard the RV Cape 

 Hatteras, 14-16 September 1994, 

 along an onshore-offshore transect 

 in Onslow Bay (Table 1, Fig. 1). 

 With some modifications, we fol- 

 lowed Struhsaker (1969) in classi- 

 fying habitat types: coastal (<18 m); 

 middle-shelf (18-55 m); outer-shelf 

 (55-185 ml; and oceanic (>185 m). 

 Station 1 (76°15.0'W, 33°54.0N) was 

 located in oceanic waters (water 

 depth=341 m); station 2 (76°21.3'W, 

 33°58.5'N) was located in outer-shelf 

 waters where smooth to highly 

 broken bottom exists (water depth= 

 75-110 m); station 3 (76°27.8'W, 

 34°04.0'N) was located in middle- 

 shelf waters (water depth=40 m); 

 and stations 4 ( 76^"34.2'W, 34°08.7'N) 

 and 5 (76°35.5'W, 34°14.3'N) were 

 located on the middle shelf adja- 

 cent to live-bottom habitat (water 

 depth=33-35 m and 28-31 m, re- 



Contribution 186 of the Center for Marine 

 Science Research, University of North Car- 

 oHna, Wilmington, NO 2840.3-3297, 



Manu.script accepted 8 November 1999. 

 Fish. BuU. 98:427-438 (2000). 



