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Fishery Bulletin 98(1) 



Elropus microstomus 

 Scophthalmus aquosus 

 Citharichthys arctifrons 

 Pholis gunnellus 

 Lepophidium profundorum 

 Centrophstis striata 

 Prionotus carolinus 

 Tautogolabrus adspersus 

 Merluccius bilinearis 

 Parallchthys oblongus 

 Astroscopus guttatus 

 Peprilus triacanthus 

 Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus 

 Pleuronectes ferrugineus 

 Urophycis spp 

 Optiictitnus cruentifer 

 Lipans inquilinus 

 Glyptocephalus cynoglossus 



Sebastes spp, 

 Hippoglossoides platessoides 

 Hemitripterus americanus 

 Helicolenus dactylopterus 

 Enchelyopus cimbrius 

 Raja erinacea 

 Gadus morhua 

 Macrozoarces americanus 



Settlement time 



JFMAMJJASOND 

 Month 



Figure 2 



Timing of settlement for age-0 fish collected. For each species, a black 

 horizontal bar marks the months in which cruises collected fish at or 

 near settlement size. In some months there was no cruise (Table 11, 

 and any settlement that might have occurred was not witnessed. 



M. bilinearis), large decreases in abundance were 

 observed following initial settlement, whereas abun- 

 dance decreased at a more modest rate for other spe- 

 cies such as C. arctifrons, Macrozoarces americanus, 

 and L. inquilinus. 



For species such as P. ferrugineus and L. inqui- 

 linus that settled during the summer (Fig. 4), the 

 cohort could be followed for the entire first year after 

 settlement (June 1996— July 1997). For other species 

 that did not settle in the summer (Figs. 5 and 6), 

 the cohort from the previous year was observed until 

 the new cohort settled in the fall, winter, or spring. 

 Inferred growth rates from the length-frequency dis- 

 tributions varied from two millimeters per month for 

 species such as P. ferrugineus and L. inquilinus (Fig. 

 4 1, to about 15 mm per month for Merluccius bilin- 

 earis (Fig. 5) and Macrozoarces americanus (Fig. 6). 



Cross-shelf movement between and within settle- 

 ment and nursery areas was evident for some species 

 but not for others. Pleuronectes ferrugineus, Etropus 

 microstomus, and Lepophidorum profundorum are 

 examples of species with consistent mean depths of 

 distribution during their first year after settlement 

 (Fig. 7, A-C). However, M. americanus exhibited a 



gradual migration towards deeper waters, whereas 

 C. arctifrons and Merluccius bilinearis moved rapidly 

 after settlement to waters about 30 meters deeper 

 for the remainder of the first year (Fig. 7, D-F). 



Habitat characteristics 



Bottom temperatures in the NYB were dynamic 

 (Fig. 8), and seasonal shifts in temperature were 

 more varied at nearshore stations (5-20°C at the 

 25-m isobath) than at offshore stations (7-ll°C at 

 90 m). Midshelf bottom temperatures showed a mod- 

 erate seasonal range (4.3-14°C at 50 m). During 

 the summer, bottom temperatures were stable, and 

 there was only a slight increase of about 1°C per 

 month. The highest rate of increase in bottom tem- 

 peratures was recorded at the inshore stations: 8°C 

 between August and September, associated with an 

 early fall turnover in 1996. This was followed by 

 the highest rate of cooling (-3°C) at the same near- 

 shore locations between the September and October 

 cruises. During fall turnover, the bottom tempera- 

 tures increased by about 4°C per month over the mid- 

 shelf, for a total of 8°C in two months. Following this 



