MACDONALD ET AL.: FISH ASSEMBLAGES AND THEIR SEASONAL MOVEMENTS 



100 (— 



_ PollachluM vlfns 



50 



JL 



FIGURE 5. — Seasonal occurrence and abundance of 

 fishes captured by seine at beach station 8 from May 

 to September 1981. 



r 



JjI 



jiL 



No Catch 



10 L Urophyclt fnula 



I A A A A — « 



100- 



_ Pseudopleuronectes amerlcanus 



^h 



3 

  



« 



c 



® 50 

 CO 



« 



Q. 



g o 



•S 160,- 



c 



D 



n 



< 120- 



80- 



40 





 160 



120 

 80 



-a — a- 

 I 



-■-A ■-■ A ■- A 11 l| 



I 



Clupea harengus harengus 



"I 



A A— A r-A — A — A-A-AA-* 



L 



-A— 



40 

 



_ Alosa sp. 



— A A- A i-l A —   !■ 



JkhL 



_ Mlcrogadus tomcod 



-L 



May 



t" 



Jun 



1 



!■ I ill  



July 



August I Sept. 



offshore movement of the population. 



The witch flounder, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, 

 was absent or rare at all times inside Passamaquoddy 

 Bay, but was a regular component at the soft-bottom 

 Bay of Fundy station (Fig. 4). Catches from June to 

 October consisted of large adult witch flounder (30- 

 60 cm, >6+ age group), but catches from November 

 to May were 6-25 cm juveniles (0-6 yr) (Figs. 6, 7). 

 Adult witch flounder on the Scotian Shelf also move 

 from intermediate depths (100 m) in summer to 

 deeper water in winter (Powles and Kohler 1970). 

 Both Powles and Kohler (1970) and Markle (1975) 

 reported juvenile witch flounder from deep water 

 (150-1,000 m) over hard bottom, quite unlike the 



situation we encountered except for similar tempera- 

 ture regimes. Also, replacement of adults by 

 juveniles during winter seems peculiar to our study, 

 but may have been observed because of year- 

 round sampling. 



Juvenile American plaice, Hippoglossoides pla- 

 tessoides, were a major summer component of station 

 C and a regular component of the Bay of Fundy sta- 

 tion (Fig. 4), both soft-bottom habitats, but was only 

 occasional at the hard-bottom station (A). Age-2 

 plaice (6-14 cm; Fig. 6) were first captured with our 

 shrimp net in April. By the following year, recruit- 

 ment to the gear appears complete at an average size 

 for the age-class of 17 cm (Fig. 7). Juvenile plaice are 



127 



