652 



Fishery Bulletin 97(3), 1999 



bass were not captured at Marine Stadium and few 

 were captured in unvegetated areas, only numbers 

 within eelgrass beds at Bay Entrance and Belmont 

 Shore were tested. Although approximately twice as 

 many individuals were caught at Bay Entrance than 

 at Belmont Shore, these results were not significantly 

 different (P=0.68). 



Lengths of barred sand bass ranged from 16 to 92 

 mm SL but most (66.2%) were <40 mm SL; no adults 

 ^ere captured. Average length at Bay Entrance (34.1 

 mm ±1.1 SE, n = 156) was smaller than at Belmont 

 Shore (43.5 mm ±1.4 SE, n=67), primarily due to the 

 greater abundance of new recruits and small juve- 

 niles (21-30 mm SL) at Bay Entrance (Fig. 6). 



Figure 3 



Mean number per 100 m- of (A) California hali- 

 but iParalichthys californiciis) and (Bl barred 

 sand bass iParalabrax nehulifer) captured in 

 unvegetated and eelgrass iZostera marina) habi- 

 tats at three sites in Alamitos Bay from May 1992 

 through November 1995. Dark bars represent 

 unvegetated habitats and stippled bars represent 

 eelgrass habitats. BE=Bay Entrance, BS=Bel- 

 mont Shore, and MS=Manne Stadium. Number 

 of tows in unvegetated habitats at BE, BS, and 

 MS were 95, 61, and 95, respectively. Number of 

 tows in eelgrass habitats at BE, BS, and MS were 

 60, 62, and 62, respectively. Error bars represent 

 + one standard error. 



Length-frequency distributions of barred sand bass 

 at these two sites were significantly different (P= 

 0.0001). 



Other species 



Gobies were the most abundant group of fishes, ac- 

 counting for 55.2% of the total (Table 2). This group 

 comprised mostly arrow goby (Clevelandia ios), 

 cheekspot goby lllypnusgilberti), and numerous goby 

 larvae that were probably arrow goby and cheekspot 

 goby. Bay pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus), 

 shiner perch iCymatogaster aggregata), topsmelt 

 (Atherinops affinis), and giant kelpfish (Heterostichus 

 rostratus) were the other most abundant fishes, and 

 along with gobies represented 87.9% of all individu- 

 als collected. These fishes, along with queenfish 

 (Seriphiis politus). diamond turbot (Hypsopsetta 

 guttulata), spotted kelpfish (Gibbonsia elegans), 

 shadow goby iQiiietula y-cauda). Pacific staghorn 

 sculpin (Leptocottus armatus), and bay blenny 

 (Hypsoblennius gentilis), were considered "common 

 fishes." The common fishes, along with California 

 halibut and barred sand bass, accounted for 96.5% 

 of the total number collected. Abundances for most 

 of these fishes peaked from March through May or 

 from June through August; most of these fishes were 

 juveniles. 



All of the common fishes were found in both habi- 

 tats and at all sites; however the number of indi- 

 viduals varied considerably (Fig. 7). Only queenfish 

 and Pacific staghorn sculpin had no significant in- 

 teractions between habitat and site in the nonpara- 

 metric two-factor ANOVA (P>0.05). Queenfish were 

 significantly more abundant in unvegetated areas 

 than in eelgrass beds (P=0.0003). No significant habi- 

 tat differences were found for Pacific staghorn sculpin 

 (P=0.41). Queenfish were significantly more abun- 

 dant at Marine Stadium than at Belmont Shore 

 (P<0.05), whereas Pacific staghorn sculpin were sig- 

 nificantly more abundant at Belmont Shore than at 

 Bay Entrance (P<0.05). 



For 11 of the 13 common fishes, the nonparamet- 

 ric two-way ANOVA yielded significant interactions 

 between habitat and site (P<0.05 ). Stratifying by site 

 and comparing abundances between eelgrass and 

 unvegetated areas, we found that bay pipefish, shiner 

 perch, giant kelpfish, spotted kelpfish, shadow goby, 

 and bay blenny were significantly more abundant in 

 eelgrass than in unvegetated areas at all three sites 

 (P<0.05). Cheekspot goby and diamond turbot were 

 significantly more abundant in unvegetated areas 

 than eelgrass at all three sites, whereas goby larvae 

 and arrow goby were significantly more abundant in 

 unvegetated areas at Belmont Shore (P<0.05j. 



