FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 1 



mon(l 1-100), and abundant (+100). Because of gear 

 differences further quantification of catches was 

 unjustified. 



Eight species of flatfishes were captured during the 

 study period (Table 2). The winter flounder, 

 Pseudopleuronectes americanus , was the numerically 

 dominant species (Figs. 4, 5). Juveniles (<22 cm, 2 + 

 age group; Fig. 6) were abundant in shallow water 

 during summer (Fig. 5) and at deep station over hard 

 bottom in Passamaquoddy Bay during winter (Fig. 

 4). Adult winter flounder were abundant during sum- 

 mer in Passamaquoddy Bay, both inshore and 

 offshore, but rare at the Bay of Fundy site (Fig. 4). 

 During winter they were rare or absent inside 



Passamaquoddy Bay but common to abundant at the 

 Bay of Fundy station. This pattern reflects the winter 

 movement of this species into offshore water in the 

 northern part of its range (Saila 1961; McCracken 

 1963; Van Guelpen and Davis 1979), which is prob- 

 ably triggered by temperature. Adults were seldom 

 present in Passamaquoddy Bay when temperatures 

 were below 6°C. McCracken (1963) found a similar 

 relationship between minimum flounder catch-per- 

 effort and minimum temperature. Surges of adult 

 flounder abundance at offshore sites, which coin- 

 cided with rapid temperature change in spring and 

 fall, were evident in most years (Fig. 4; Tyler 1971) 

 and may have been related to rapid onshore or 



300 



250 



200 



! 



500 



400 



o 



a. 



» 

 o 



c 



o 



< 



150- 



100 



50- 





 50 



i i 



411 



Pseudopleuronectes americanus 



-f^ 



r*i — i — i — r"r 



V- 



■w A + C adult means 

 ES3-A* C juvenile means 

 czzi-B adult means 



* -A + C no catch 



» -B no catch 



.JUjlp 



— i*^— r 



JU 



1 I I I 



^*T-nn- 4 T^*r-rn*T^4H^ t ¥*r a i^?*-P4*T»T»rT* i i i i P 4 i  P +*P-pJ 



Glyptocophalus cynoglossus / "ISJJJjJJ, 8 



'r ^ 



^JtJVJ^ 



t — rf i — i — n 



150r- 



100- 



50- 



A J A O D 

 1977 



Hlppoglossoldes platessoides 



\ a 



T*1 rT^r-r-r 



A J A O D 

 1978 



~r 



V I i 

 A J A O D| 

 1979 



I 



JUu 



F A 



J A O 

 1980 



i i » i i 

 F A J 



1981 



Winter 



Figure 4. — Seasonal occurrence and abundance of juvenile and adult flatfishes (Pseudopleuronectes aniiricanus, Glyptocephalus cyno- 

 glossus, and Hippoglossoides platessoides) at offshore station in the Bay of Fundy and Passamaquoddy Bay. For witch flounder (middle) 

 dark bars are adults and lined bars are juveniles at site B. For American plaice (bottom) open bars are site B and lined bars are site 

 C (all juveniles). 



126 



