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Fishery Bulletin 100(3) 



30 r 



20 

 10 





 10 

 20 

 30 

 30 

 20 

 10 





 10 

 20 

 30 

 30 

 20 

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 10 

 20 

 30 



New J«rs«y 

 1989-1990 



North Carolina 

 1989-1990 



New Jersey 

 1990-1991 



I I I 



North Carolina 

 1990-1991 



New Jersey 

 1992-1993 



North Carolina 

 1992-1993 



12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 



Standard length(mm) 



Figure 7 



Percentage distribution of standard length (1-nim length 

 intervals! for larval Atlantic menhaden iBrevoortia tyrannus) 

 collected during their recruitment at Pivers Island, North 

 Carolina, and Little Sheepshead Creek, New Jersey, in 1989-90, 

 1990-91, and 1992-93. 



recruited larvae. Temperatures this low are often found 

 during winter in New Jersey estuaries (Able et al., 1992) 

 and result in mortality of several other estuarine species 

 (Szedlmayer et al., 1992; Keefe and Able, 1993; Hales and 

 Able, 2001). We did not catch Atlantic menhaden larvae in 

 the New Jersey estuary at any time when the surface wa- 

 ter temperature was <5°C. Temperatures <3°C deterred 

 larval Atlantic menhaden entry into estuaries, inhibited 

 movements into tributaries, and caused mass mortalities 

 in Indian River, Delaware (Reintjes and Pacheco, 1966). 

 Alternatively, larvae recruiting in March or later have less 

 chance of encountering lethal temperatures and experi- 

 encing cold-related mortality and hence their proportion 

 of the total year's recruitment may increase. 



The precise mechanisms responsible for larval Atlantic 

 menhaden transport from the SAB to the MAB are un- 

 known. However, it seems likely that larvae may be trans- 



ported northward by the Gulf Stream. Atlantic menhaden 

 larvae that are spawned on the outer continental shelf 

 of North Carolina (Checkley et al., 1988; Warlen, 1992; 

 Govoni and Pietrafesa, 1994) may be entrained in mean- 

 ders that impinge onto the shelf (Pietrafesa et al., 1985) 

 and carried northward out of the SAB. Govoni and Spach 

 (1999) estimated offshore fluxes of Atlantic menhaden 

 larvae from the North Carolina shelf to the Gulf Stream 

 during the winter Modeling results supported these em- 

 pirical findings and indicated that export from the North 

 Carolina shelf is influenced by both wind and bathymetry 

 (Hare et al., 1999). Once in the Gulf Stream, larvae can be 

 transported rapidly (=100 cm/s) to the northeast (Hare^). 



Hare, J. A. 1999. Personal commun. Center for Coastal 

 Fisheries and Habitat Research, National Ocean Service, NOAA, 

 101 Pivers Island Rd., Beaufort, NC. 



