63 



Abstract— Tins study rcporis new 

 nilormatioEi about soarobiii iPnoiKitiis 

 spp. ) early life history from samples col- 

 lected with a Tucker trawl (for plank- 

 tonic stat;es) and a beam trawl (for 

 newly settled fishi from the coastal 

 waters of New^ Jersey. Northern scaro- 

 bin, Prionoliis caroliiuis. were much 

 more numerous than striped searobin, 

 P. evotans, often by an order of mag- 

 nitude. Larval Prionotus were collected 

 during the period July-October and 

 their densities peaked during Septem- 

 ber For both species, notochord fle.\ion 

 was complete at 6-7 mm standard 

 length (SLi and individuals settled at 

 8-9 mm SL. Flexion occurred as early 

 as 13 days after hatching and set- 

 tlement occurred as late as 25 days 

 after hatching, according to ages esti- 

 mated from sagittal microincrements. 

 Both species settled directly in conti- 

 nental shelf habitats without evidence 

 of delayed metamorphosis. Spawning, 

 larval dispersal, or settlement may 

 have occurred within certain estuar- 

 ies, particularly for P. evolans; thus col- 

 lections from shelf areas alone do not 

 permit estimates of total larval produc- 

 tion or settlement rates. Reproductive 

 seasonality of P carolinus and P. evo- 

 tans may vary with respect to latitude 

 and coastal depth. In this study, hatch- 

 ing dates and sizes of age-0 P. caro- 

 linus varied with respect to depth or 

 distance from the New Jersey shore. 

 Older and larger age-0 individuals were 

 found in deeper waters. These varia- 

 tions in searobin age and size appear to 

 be the combined result of intraspecific 

 variations in searobin reproductive sea- 

 sonality and the limited capability of 

 searobin eggs and larvae to disperse. 



Larval and settlement periods of the 

 northern searobin (Prionotus carolinus) 

 and the striped searobin {P. evolansY 



Richard S. McBride 



Marine Field Station 



Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 



Rutgers University 



800 Greal Bay Blvd 



Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087 



Present address: Flonda Marine Research Institute 



100 Eighth Avenue SE 



St Petersburg, Florida 33701 5095 

 E-mail address rictiard mcbnden fwc stale 11 us 



Michael P. Fahay 



Sandy Hook Laboratory 

 Northeast Fisheries Science Center 

 National Manne Fisheries Service, NCAA 

 Highlands, New Jersey 07732 



Kenneth W. Able 



Marine Field Station 



Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 



Rutgers University 



800 Greal Bay Blvd 



Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087 



Manuscript accepted 30 July (2001). 

 Fish. Bull. 100:6.3-73 (2002). 



Although adult fish assemblages off- 

 shore of the middle Atlantic states 

 are fairly well known (e.g. Edwards, 

 1976; Colvocoresses and Musick, 1984; 

 Gabriel, 1992), the early life history 

 of many of these same species and 

 the function of shelf habitats as nurs- 

 ery grounds are poorly understood (e.g. 

 Fahay, 1983, 1993; Able and Fahay, 

 1998). Because year-class strength is 

 believed to stabilize prior to the early 

 juvenile stage, information about the 

 transition from the plankton to ben- 

 thic (i.e. settlement) habitats should 

 contribute to our understanding of the 

 population processes of benthic fishes 

 (Gushing and Harris, 1973; Gampana 

 et al., 1989; Myers and Cadigan, 1993). 

 Settlement is regarded as a dynamic 

 period of early development because 

 mortality rates can differ between pre- 

 and postsettlement life stages (Sale 

 and Ferrell, 1988), dramatic morpho- 

 logical and physiological transforma- 

 tions occur ( Youson, 1988; Markle et al., 

 1992; McCormick, 1993), and behav- 



iors become evident that allow for delay- 

 ing settlement until suitable juvenile 

 habitat is found (Cowen, 1991; Sponau- 

 gle and Gowen, 1994). Ultimately, an 

 understanding of the life cycle of any 

 benthic species is constrained if the set- 

 tlement period is not viewed as an inte- 

 gral transition from the planktonic to 

 the adult period. 



Our study contributes to an under- 

 standing of how fishes use continental 

 shelf habitats as nurseries with an ex- 

 amination of the early life history of 

 the northern searobin, Prionotus caro- 

 linus, and the striped searobin, P. evo- 

 lans. Both are common species in the 

 coastal region between Gape God and 

 Gape Hatteras, but relatively little is 

 known about their early life history ow- 

 ing largely to their low economic impor- 

 tance in relation to the heavily exploit- 

 ed fisheries of this region (McBride et 



* Contribution 2001-28 of the Institute of 

 Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers Uni- 

 versity, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. 



