Table 1.— Allocation of sampling effort indicating the number of 

 successful trawls completed for each trip. 



estuary averaged 0.25 km at 2.52 km/h, while in the 

 coastal study area they averaged 0.91 km at 3.32 

 km/h. 



Distribution and Abundance 



We captured a total of 13 species of flatfishes in 

 the two study areas during the 2-yr survey (Table 

 2). Juvenile sanddab, sand sole, and English sole 

 were found to be abundant both in Grays Harbor 

 estuary and along the open coast. Two species in 

 particular, English sole and starry flounder, were 

 found to have much higher densities in the estuary 

 than along the open coast (Table 2). English sole 

 were found to be the most abundant flatfish in the 

 estuary for both years and along the open coast in 

 1984. 



For both years within Grays Harbor, densities 

 of English sole generally were highest in STR 1, 2, 

 and 4 and lowest densities in STR 3 (Table 3). 

 Apart from changes due to recruitment, fluctuation 

 in abundance in the four areas of the estuary was 

 likely affected by movement of juveniles between 

 strata and between the estuary and open coast. 

 Along the open coast, greatest densities were 

 observed nearshore (Table 4) in depths <40 m. 

 In 1984, English sole were most abundant at 5-15 

 m owing to the presence of high numbers of 0-age 

 fish. 



Mean density (all months combined) within the 

 estuary was over 20 times greater than the open 

 coast in 1983. Settlement of fish <25 mm TL 

 was much greater in 1984 than 1983 in both 

 areas, but estuarine density was still higher than 

 that of the open coast. A t-test was performed on 

 log-transformed CPUE (Zar 1984) because catch 

 data are typically nonnormally distributed. Re- 

 sults showed a significantly greater density (P < 

 0.0001) of juvenile English sole in the estuary 

 than along the open coast for both 1983 (562 vs. 

 23 mean no./ha) and 1984 (1,149 vs. 178 mean 

 no. /ha). 



Population Estimates 



In making population estimates, mean densities 

 of fish less than age V by month were multiplied by 

 strata areas. Comparison of length frequencies of 

 fish we collected with published age-at-length rela- 

 tionships (Van Cleve and El Sayed 1969) indicated 

 that fish beyond age IV were rarely captured. Older 

 fish may not have been present in the study areas 



Table 2.— Stratified mean densities and 2 SE (in parentheses) for juvenile flatfish captured in the two survey 



areas for 1983-84. 



Species 



English sole, Parophrys vetulus 

 Pac. Sanddab, Citharichthys sordidus 

 Butter sole, Isopesetta isolepsis 

 Sand sole, Psettichthys melanosticus 

 Dover sole, Microstomus pacificus 

 Rex sole, Glyptocephalus zachirus 

 Slender sole, Lyopsetta exills 

 Starry flounder, Platichthys stellatus 

 Petrale sole, Eopsetta jordani 

 Rock sole, Lepidopsetta bilineata 

 C-0 sole, Pleuronichthys coenosus 

 Curlfin sole, Pleuronichthys coenosus 

 Cal. tonguefish,^ Symphums atricauda 



'Occurrence considered anomolous (Dinnel and Rogers 1986). 



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