FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 87, NO. 3, 1989 



(Santander 1981). In 1981, the Peruvian anchovy 

 egg distribution was essentially continuous near 

 the coast, with some extension offshore to 30 

 miles offshore of Chimbote (Fig. 2). In contrast, 

 the Pacific sardine eggs occurred in two groups 

 separated by about 120 nmi between Huacho and 

 Chimbote. The Pacific sardine eggs extended 

 farther offshore than Peruvian anchovy eggs and 

 were not as abundant in the nearshore stations. 



Of the 925 samples that were taken (Santan- 

 der et al. 1984), 575 came from the inshore 

 regions IMARll, IMAR21, and IMAR31 (Fig. 

 1). Twenty-one percent of the samples in the 

 inshore regions had both Peruvian anchovy and 

 Pacific sardine eggs, 32% had only Peruvian 

 anchovy eggs, 18% only Pacific sardine eggs, and 

 28% had neither Peruvian anchovy nor Pacific 

 sardine eggs (Table 1). 



There were fourfold fewer V2 d old Pacific sar- 

 dine eggs per station in the samples with Pacific 

 sardine eggs in the absence of Peruvian anchovy 

 eggs as compared with Pacific sardine eggs per 

 station when Peruvian anchovy eggs were also 

 present (Table 2). By way of contrast, the Peru- 

 vian anchovy eggs appeared to be equally abun- 

 dant, with or without Pacific sardine eggs in the 

 sample. There appeared to be a trend of Pacific 



Table 1 . — Number (% in parentheses) of plankton hauls in 

 which Peruvian anchovy, Engraulis ringens, and/or Pe- 

 ruvian sardine, Sardinops sagax. eggs occurred in the 

 three inshore regions. 



sardine egg abundance in absence of Peruvian 

 anchovy eggs becoming proportionally less abun- 

 dant with age, but the trend was mostly con- 

 cealed by the high standard errors of the two 

 categories. Of course these rates cannot be 

 known precisely from exploratory data analysis; 

 the absolute rates would have to result from 

 specifically designed studies with higher preci- 

 sion. 



On a regional basis, sardine egg production 

 was highest in the northern region (IMARll), 

 negligible in the central region (IMAR21), and 

 higher in the southern region (IMAR31, Table 



82° 81° 80° 79° 78° 77° 



76° 75° 



Figure 2. — Pacific sardine (left) and Peruvian anchovy (right) egg abundance 

 in August to September 1981. For each s])ecies. shaded areas indicate where 

 their eggs were taken at densities of 1-100 eggs/0.05 m". and black areas 

 indicated 101 or more eggs/0.05 m". Peruvian anchovy data has also been 

 mapped in units of eggs per square meter in Santander (1987, Map No. 78, p. 

 204). 



500 



