FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 4 



BEACH SEINE 



N-1574 



FIGURE 8.— Length-frequency dis- 

 tributions of spot, Leiostomus xan- 

 thurus, by depth of York River. Pooled 

 total, May to July 1972-74. Frequen- 

 cies expressed as log (x + 1) at 5-mm 

 increments. 



2.5- 

 1.5- 

 0.5- 



TOTAL LENGTH imm) 



2.5 

 5- 



05- 

 2.5 

 1.5- 

 0.5- 

 2.5 

 I 

 0.5- 

 2.5 



0.5 

 2.5 



I 5 

 0.5 

 2.5 



1972 



2.5 

 1.5 

 5- 

 2 5 

 1.5- 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 1.5 

 0.5 

 2 5 

 i 5 

 0.5 

 2.5- 

 1.5 

 5H 

 2 5 

 1.5 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 l 5 

 0.5 

 2.5- 

 1.5 

 0.5 



90 MO 130 150 

 TOTAL LENGTH ( mm] 



170 190 210 230 250 



1973 



10 30 50 70 90 NO 130 150 170 190 210 230 250 

 TOTAL LENGTH (mm) 



evident in all areas studied because spot are com- 

 pletely absent or in low abundance in inshore 

 catches. Yearling or older spot (Table 1, group I) 

 usually leave the estuary after September and do 

 not return until spring of the next year. Some 



2.5-. 

 1.5- 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 1.5- 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 1.5 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 I 5 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 b 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 1.5; 

 0.5- 

 2.5 

 1.5 

 0.5 

 2.5 

 1.5 

 5 



1974 



^H^l^ 



NO SAMPLE 



NO SAMPLE 



Xn 



ki 



_Dn_ 



-i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i i i 

 10 30 50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 210 230 250 



TOTAL LENGTH (mm) 



FIGURE 9. — Monthly length-frequency distributions of spot, 

 Leiostomus xanthurus, from the beach seine catches of York 

 River, 1972-74. Frequencies expressed as log (x + 1) at 5-mm 

 increments. 



young-of-the-year spot over-winter in the estuary 

 (Figure 6; Table 1). Tagged spot (Pacheco 1962b) 

 have moved from Chesapeake Bay south to an 

 area west of Diamond Shoals, N.C. Similarly, a 

 spot tagged and released from Delaware Bay in 

 October 1930 was recovered south of Ocracoke In- 

 let, N.C, in December 1930 (Pearson 1932). Thus, 

 spot from these areas may have a common coastal 

 feeding or spawning ground during the winter, 

 although Struhsaker (1969) reported a winter 

 offshore movement of spot into deeper water 

 (lower-shelf habitat off South Carolina). These 

 offshore spot may be a mixture of northern and 

 southern populations or just southern residents. 

 The late fall or early winter spawning time of spot 

 may be the same in both Atlantic and Gulf of 



668 



