Valle et al.: Habitat use by Paralichthys ca/ifornicus and Paralabrax nebulifer 



655 



Queenfish 







.L5 - 



Spotted kelpfish 

 1 



.r!i_ 



ri 



300 



Bay pipefish 



in 



Shadow goby 



J^L 



Goby lar\'ae 



BE 



BS 



ii 



MS 



Arrow goby 



^ 



BE 



BS 



MS 



Figure 7 



Mean number per 100 m- of the most abundant fishes (see text) captured in unvegetated and eelgrass (Zostera marina) habitats 

 at three sites in Alamitos Bay from May 1992 through November 1995. Dark bars represent unvegetated habitats and stippled 

 bars represent eelgrass habitats. See Figure 3 for further explanation. 



The distribution patterns of California halibut and 

 barred sand bass among sites were similar; abun- 

 dances of individuals decreased with increasing dis- 

 tance from the bay mouth. These patterns in Alamitos 

 Bay might be expected if abundances were related 

 to larval supply because both species spawn outside 

 the bay. Others have found that circulation patterns 

 may limit dispersal of recruits to inner parts of an 

 embaymentlSogardetal., 1987; Jenkins etal., 1996). 

 However, this does not seem to be the case for 

 Alamitos Bay because it is well circulated with a net 

 inflow of water, and the distance between sites is 

 relatively short. Instead, fewer halibut and barred 

 sand bass may inhabit the inner parts of the bay 

 because settlement and location of suitable habitat 

 have occurred before reaching these areas. For Cali- 

 fornia halibut, few larvae are found in embayments 



(White. 1977; Leithiser, 1981; Nordby, 1982; Yokla- 

 vich et al., 1992); the greatest densities of eggs and 

 early larvae occur in nearshore waters with older 

 larvae found less than 1 km from shore (Ahlstrom 

 and Moser, 1975; Gruber et al., 1982; Barnett et al., 

 1984; Lavenberg et al., 1986; Walker et al., 1987; 

 Moser and Watson, 1990). Most transforming hali- 

 but larvae are found on the open coast (Kramer, 1990, 

 1991a), and large numbers of halibut settle there and 

 in embayments (Allen, 1988; Allen and Herbinson, 

 1990, 1991; Kramer, 1990. 1991a, 1991b). Those hali- 

 but that settle on the open coast move into embay- 

 ments or die (Kramer, 1991a). Although it is not 

 known where most barred sand bass recruitment 

 occurs, spawning occurs in nearshore waters, and the 

 planktonic larval phase is relatively short, lasting 

 about one month (Butler et al., 1982). Therefore, if 



