McGOWAN and RICHARDS; BLUEFIN TUNA LARVAE 



200 



5 to 15 20 25 5 10 15 20 25 30 

 TEMPERATURE CO 



Figure 3. — Continued — stations 645, 648, and 

 649, are presumed not to represent conditions at 

 647 because thev are farther inshore. 



1983). The inference to be drawn from this re- 

 mote sensing data is that during 27-29 April the 

 Gulf Stream meandered inshore of the 183 m 

 isobath in this region carrying bluefin tuna 

 larvae over the shelf edge. This is worth noting 

 with regard to the larval habitat of the bluefin 

 tuna because the larvae are rarely taken in 

 water <200 m deep. For example, in the Gulf of 

 Mexico during 1977-81 only 5 of 81 stations that 

 had bluefin tuna larvae were in water <200 m 

 deep and none was in water <110 m deep. 

 (Southeast Fisheries Center, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, unpubl. data.) 



The second group of stations where bluefin 

 tuna larvae were caught is the pau- of stations 

 east of Cape Fear, NC where the water depth 

 was 360-560 m (stations 727 and 728). Water 

 temperatures at the surface, at 100 m, and at 200 

 m were similar to temperatures at the same 

 depths for other Gulf Stream stations such as 



79 'W 



Figure 5. — Chart showing the position of the edge of the 

 Gulf Stream on 29 April 1985 relative to three stations where 

 bluefin larvae were collected 27-29 April. (RedrawTi from 

 NOAA Gulf Stream System Flow Chart #2450, 29 April 

 1985.) 



621 



