180 



Fishery Bulletin 98(1) 



Pleuronectes ferrugineus 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



<n 





ih 



Cb^ 



KI) 



tfe 



10 



20 



30 



■s 



o. 

 u 



D Merluccius bilinearis 







20 



40 



60 



80 



D 



100 



10 20 30 40 50 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



Etropus microstomus 



10 20 30 40 



Citharichthys arctifrons 



E 



C)() " 



•I'oe'f jf 



"C)C) 



10 20 30 40 



Size class (mm) 



Lepophidium profundorum 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



e 0g®®®©®S 



50 



100 



150 



Macrozoarces americanus 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



Oct"" 



20 40 60 80 



Figure 7 



Mean depth (±1 SD) by size class for three species that do not show strong migration (A-C) and three species that do show migra- 

 tion with increased size (D-Fl. 



age-0 fishes (Table 3; Figs. 4-6) were near (and occa- 

 sionally below) that reported for size at the end of the 

 larval stage (Fahay, 1983). Moreover, although the 

 total contribution of larvae to the trawl catch was low 

 (<2% of numeric abundance), the presence of these 

 specimens in our samples strengthens the assertion 

 that they were collected near first settlement. Most 

 fish larvae collected were metamorphosing or post- 

 flexion flounder, particularly P. ferrugineus. Larvae 

 from nondemersal fish species known to be present 

 in the water column at this time of year (Kendall and 

 Naphn, 1981; Cowen et al., 1993; Cho, 1996) were 

 not collected by the trawl. Collected larvae, there- 



fore, were likely taken near the bottom rather than 

 during the deployment or recovery of the net. 



Compared with settlement areas, nursery areas 

 for groundfishes on the continental shelf are more 

 problematic to define. Gibson (1994) described nurs- 

 ery habitat as being an area where the scope for 

 growth is enhanced for settled juveniles. Scope for 

 growth is a function of habitat quality and quantity, 

 but these parameters, particularly quality, are dif- 

 ficult to measure. Nursery habitats are generally 

 spatially and temporally species-specific, but two or 

 more species may have similar nurseries. Within a 

 single species, nursery and settlement habitats may 



