vetulus, 85-165 mm, and /. isolepis, 95-155 mm, 

 were commonly captured. Isopsetta isolepis, 4-7 

 mm, were captured with 0.5-m plankton net. No 

 later stages were taken. Richardson (1973) took 

 this species (12-22 mm) off Oregon close to shore. 

 Entry into the estuary probably occurs as 

 metamorphosed juveniles. 



Several types of sampling equipment should be 

 utilized in future studies to capture early stages 

 near bottom, on tide flats, in embayments, and 

 during darkness. This preliminary investigation 

 indicated little spawning occurred in this west 

 coast estuary; most species captured were 

 spawned in the ocean, or were anadromous species 

 that spawned upstream and drifted into the es- 

 tuary. Results of this investigation and bottom 

 trawling by other researchers indicated this 

 estuary is utilized primarily as a nursery grounds 

 by the post-larval and juvenile stages of several 

 species. 



Acknowledgments 



I express my gratitude to Kenneth Waldron and 

 Jean Dunn of the Northwest Fisheries Center who 

 assisted in the identification of larvae. I thank 

 Nick Zorich whose skillful operation of the vessel 

 and assistance with sampling were indispensable. 



Literature Cited 



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LARKIN, P. A., AND W. E. RlCKER (editors). 



1964. Canada's Pacific marine fisheries, past performance 

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1974. Zooplankton, water temperature, and salinities in 

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Smith, W. E., and R. W. Saalfeld. 



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David A. Misitano 



Northwest Fisheries Center 

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1X1 -iz£ 



A NOTE ON: "VELOCITY AND 

 TRANSPORT OF THE ANTILLES CURRENT 

 NORTHEAST OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS" 



Interest of fishery scientists in the Antilles Cur- 

 rent east of the Bahama Islands stems from a 

 generally accepted hypothesis that it served as a 

 conveyor of larvae of large pelagic fishes north- 

 ward into the Gulf Stream system. Larvae of 

 billfishes (Istiophoridae) were captured in 

 plankton tows east of the Bahamas during the first 

 MARMAP Operational Test Phase (OPT-I) cruise 

 in July- August 1972. l These captures clearly 



•Richards, W. J., J. W. Jossi, and T. W. McKenney. Interim 

 report on the distribution and abundance of tuna and billfish 

 larvae collected during MARMAP Operational Test Phase 

 cruises I and II, 1972-1973. MARMAP Contrib. 16. Unpubl. 

 manuscr., 15 p. 



222 



