778 



Fishery Bulletin 88(4), 1990 



Figure 3 



Annual cycle of gonad-somatic indices for offshore hake Meriucciiis 

 albidus collected in the New York Bight, June 1974-June 1975, in- 

 cluding monthly means, ranges, 95% confidence intervals, and 

 number examined. In addition, percent ripe females per month is 

 given on the upper axis. 



Figure 4 



Annual cycle of gonad-somatic indices for silver hake Merlucciux 

 bilinearis collected in the New York Bight, June 1974-June 1975, 

 including monthly means, ranges, 95% confidence intervals, and 

 number examined. In addition, percent ripe females per month is 

 given on the upper axis. 



ing season or perhaps even spawns continually through- 

 out the year. 



Offshore hake range from Georges Bank to the coast 

 of South America along the continental shelf break in 

 depths > 100 m (Bigelow and Schroeder 1955, Leim and 

 Scott 1966). They are the deepest ranging species 

 described in this study, being found between 162 and 

 366 m, the survey extreme. They were collected within 

 a relatively restricted temperature range throughout 

 the year, with little or no seasonal changes. 



Silver hal<e Merluccius bilinearis 



Ripe females, 202-590 mm, were collected in ocean 

 waters during a long spawning season, March through 

 October, with mean GSI highest from July to October 

 (Fig. 4). A protracted spawning season for this species 

 in the Middle Atlantic is supported by two ichthyo- 

 plankton surveys: (1) Fahay (1974) collected eggs dur- 

 ing 1966 from May through November with a peak in 

 June-July; and (2) Sherman et al. (1984) reported lar- 

 vae were collected during 1977-79 from April through 

 November, with a peak in August. 



Silver hake are found over all bottom types from the 

 intertidal zone to the 200-m isobath from Nova Scotia, 

 Canada to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (Bigelow and 

 Schroeder 1953, Leim and Scott 1966). During August, 

 the month of highest mean GSI, silver hake were found 

 well offshore where temperatures were moderate 

 (Table 1). During the remainder of the year females 

 were captured throughout the entire survey area at a 



wide variety of depths (4-335 m) and temperatures 

 (4.3-19. 2°C). 



Red hai<e Uropiiycis chuss 



Mean GSI was highest during the summer; however, 

 ripe females, 225-621 mm, were present from May 

 through September (Fig. 5). Colton et al. (1979) re- 

 ported the occurrence of larvae in the Middle Atlantic 

 from May through October with a peak in June or July. 

 Off the southern New England coast, adults migrate 

 offshore to the continental slope and spawn during May 

 through September at temperatures of 5-11 °C (Musick 

 1969, 1974). 



Red hake were among the deepest spawners observ- 

 ed during the study with a mean capture depth of 60 

 m in June 1975 during the height of the spawning cycle 

 (Table 1). The mean temperature of 8.0°C at time of 

 spawning agrees with previously reported observa- 

 tions. It is noteworthy that five specimens in spawn- 

 ing condition were caught at two nearshore ocean sta- 

 tions at which the depth and temperature were 25 and 

 27 m and 15.3 and 17.1 °C, respectively. These obser- 

 vations, to some degree, broaden the spawning depth 

 and temperature ranges reported by Musick (1969, 

 1974). 



Spotted iial<e Uropiiycis regia 



Spotted hake exhibited a bimodal or split spawning pat- 

 tern which was characterized by two mean GSI peaks, 



