FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 86, NO 2 



RESULTS 



General Observations 



The water column was very weakly stratified, 

 with temperatures of 12.9 ± 0.1°C at 1 m, 13.0 

 ± 0.2°C at 4 m and 14.1 ± 0.1°C 8 m above the 

 bottom during the time of biological sampling. 

 Near the bottom, a turbid suspension limited vis- 

 ibility to arm's length; the surface of the sediment 

 was never clearly seen on any of the seven de- 

 scents during the hours of 0930-1630. The mid- 

 waters below about 3 m from the surface were 

 densely populated with larvaceans (visually esti- 

 mated and later confirmed to be about 10 L"^). 

 Total diatom cell counts (principally Nitzschia 

 spp.) were of order 10^ L~^ in all samples, bloom 

 quantities suggestive of recent upwelling (cf. 

 Tont 1981). 



Currents and Plankton 



During the hours of biological sampling, cur- 

 rents ran steadily alongshore to the southeast, 

 being deflected counterclockwise near the bottom 

 and ranging from about 14 cm s"^ at 8 m to 6 m 

 s"^ at 1 m above the seabed. At these current 

 speeds, one may expect that the approximately 

 5-h period from beginning to end of biological 

 sampling should correspond to a minimum spa- 

 tial spread of 1-2.5 km. Distances of this order 

 were previously found to be an important length 

 scale of variation in larval fish abundance ( Jahn 

 and Lavenberg 1986). Because the spatial dimen- 

 sion of interest regarding distribution of larval 

 fish prey was the vertical, we needed to quantify, 

 at least partially, the effects of time (vertical 

 migration?) and distance (advection) on the com- 

 position and vertical dispostion of the plankton. 



Component 4 (11%) 

 



2 - 



1 - 



CM 

 CM 



C 

 0) 



c 

 o 



o. 



E 

 o 

 o 



- 



1 - 



■2 - 



FIGURE 1. — Projections of microzooplankton 

 samples onto the first and fourth principal com- 

 ponent axes. The initial digit represents profile 

 number, M = midwater, B = near-bottom, final 

 digit is proximity to bottom (1 = 25 cm, 2 = 50 

 cm, 3 = 100 cm), see Figure 3. 



254 



