620 



Fishery Bulletin 100(3) 



1922; McCleave and Miller, 1994), occur in and near the 

 Gulf Stream in the SAB and appear as glass eels in the 

 New Jersey collections at approximately the same time as 

 menhaden larvae (Witting et al., 1999). The same general 

 track is presumed for Conger oceanicus which also spawn 

 in the Sargasso Sea (Miller, 1995) and are also collected 

 at the New Jersey study site, although they occur later 

 (May^une) (Able and Fahay, 1998; Witting et al., 1999). 

 Similarly, other species which presumably spawn in the 

 SAB such as Chaetodon spp. (McBride and Able, 1998), 

 Mugil curema (Collins and Stender, 1989), and Lutjanus 

 griseus (Able and Fahay, 1998) also enter the New Jersey 

 study site (Able et al., 1997; Witting et al., 1999). Larval 

 spot, Leiostomus xanthurus, spawned south of Cape Hat- 

 teras may also be transported to estuaries in the MAB 

 (Norcross and Bodolus, 1991). 



In summary, although the SAB may be a very important 

 spawning area for Atlantic menhaden, all larvae produced 

 in the SAB are not retained there; some are transported to 

 the MAB. We believe the birthdate distribution data sug- 

 gest that Atlantic menhaden larvae spawned in the SAB 

 are an important but variable source of recruits (10-87%) 

 for the MAB based on the collections from New Jersey. The 

 number of winter-spawned larvae ultimately recruited to 

 New Jersey probably depends on the initial number of 

 larvae transported northward from the SAB, the efficacy 

 of the transport mechanisms, and the mortality of lar- 

 vae during the process. Obviously, the estimates for this 

 single New Jersey estuary may differ from other areas in 

 the MAB. As a result of the above variables and recent 

 insights from the SABRE program, it appears that larval 



Atlantic menhaden supply is very complex with frequent 

 exchanges between the MAB and the SAB, as well as the 

 contribution from local spawning. Ultimately, we need to 

 know which spawning seasons and sites contribute most 

 individuals to nursery habitats (Beck et al., 2001) and to 

 the adult population. 



The relative contribution of SAB menhaden lai^ae, and 

 those of other species, to other estuaries in the MAB might 

 clarify the importance of MAB estuaries and contribute to 

 an improved understanding of recruitment mechanisms 

 for shelf-spawned estuarine-dependent fishes in the MAB. 

 Additional evidence for the contribution of SAB larvae 

 to the MAB could come from analyses of the elemental 

 composition of the primordium (nucleus) of larval otoliths 

 from both New Jersey and North Carolina. The laser 

 ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy 

 (ICPMS) technique (Campana et al., 1994; Thorrold et 

 al., 2001) might be used to discriminate among larvae to 

 determine if they have similar or different geographic ori- 

 gins. Similarities in elemental composition of New Jersey 

 and North Carolina larvae with the same winter-spawned 

 birthdate would be an important step toward validating 

 the common geographic origin of the larvae recruited to 

 New Jersey and perhaps elsewhere in the MAB. 



Acknowledgments 



Many individuals from Rutgers University Marine Field 

 Station and the Beaufort Laboratory assisted in the col- 

 lection and analysis of material. We thank William Rugen 



