FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 1 



California was not a preferred habitat for adult 

 spawning during 1978-80. Our ratios of E. mordax 

 eggs to early larvae support this conclusion. 



On the other hand, larval survivorship may be 

 enhanced in these nearshore waters. Hjort (1914), 

 Lasker (1975), and Brewer and Smith (1982) pointed 

 out that the number of eggs and larvae surviving to 

 recruitment may vary independently of spawning 

 stock size. Brewer and Smith (1982) indicated that 

 the shallow coastal region's importance as a nur- 

 seryground for E. mordax is not yet clear. Their pre- 

 liminary length-frequency data show relatively high 

 numbers of large size classes nearshore, which are 

 rare further offshore. Our preliminary length- 

 frequency data corroborate this. The onshore 

 ontogenetic shift of these larvae is a conspicuous and 

 persistent feature of our data set (fig. 5). Thus 

 nearshore environmental conditions may enhance 

 growth or survivorship or both fori?, mordax larvae as 

 well as for other larvae with typically inshore 

 patterns. 



The larval taxa discussed in this paper represent 

 some 12' ? of the types identified in the course of this 

 study. Less common taxa were omitted for statistical 

 reasons, but inspection of the data suggests that the 

 patterns of abundance shown here are typical. Lar- 

 vae of many species found in our study are most 

 abundant in shallow water within a few kilometers 

 from shore. Laroche and Holton (1979), noting the 

 inshore abundance of 0-age Parophrys vetulus off the 

 Oregon coast, suggested a nusery function for those 

 open, nearshore areas. Concentration of juvenile 

 fishes well inshore of adult depth ranges is also well 

 known along the southern California coast (Lim- 

 baugh 1961; Feder et al. 1974). 



Whether such patterns result from behavioral 

 mechanisms leading to nearshore concentration, 

 from differential onshore-offshore mortality, or sim- 

 ply from random movements away from very 

 localized spawning sites, their evolution and main- 

 tenance imply significant value in occupying 

 nearshore waters. Eppley et al. (1978) found higher 

 concentrations of phytoplankton inshore of the 50- 

 100 m depth contours, and Lasker (1975, 1978) 

 showed that nearshore abundance of suitable-sized 

 phytoplankton can be an important determinant of 

 year-class strength in E. mordax. Gruber et al. (1982) 

 noted that Pacific sardine, Sardinops caeruleus, once 

 spawned over wide areas of the California Current 

 region, but the reduced stock now concentrates its 

 spawning effort nearshore. They suggested the pro- 

 ductive nearshore zone may be especially important 

 to recovering fish stocks, a situation which might 

 apply to northern anchovy at some future date. 



Pearcy and Myers (1974) noted that a number of 

 studies found estuaries of northern California and 

 Oregon to be important nurseries. However, 

 estuaries in the Southern California Bight, as along 

 much of the Pacific coast of North America, are small 

 and far between. Enhanced productivity in the 

 shallow waters of the open coast seems to provide a 

 nursery area for many Southern California fishes 

 analogous to the estuarine nurseries of other 

 regions. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This paper is a result of research funded by the 

 Marine Review Committee (MRC), Encinitas, Calif. 

 The MRC does not necessarily accept the results, 

 findings, or conclusions stated herein. 



We are indebted to Jeffrey M. Leis for his important 

 contributions to all parts of the preliminary study and 

 to the field and laboratory aspects of the main study. 

 Susan Watts provided invaluable assistance in the 

 computer analysis of the data. Keith Parker and 

 Allen Oaten assisted with the statistical problems 

 encountered. Paul Smith offered many helpful sug- 

 gestions on a manuscript dealing with the pre- 

 liminary study. Edward DeMartini, H. J. Walker, Jr., 

 and Robert J. Lavenberg read earlier versions of this 

 manuscript and offered useful comments. The paper 

 has also benefitted from the comments of an 

 anonymous reviewer. Judy Sabins, Carolyn Davis, 

 and Karen Lee typed the various versions of the 

 manuscript. We especially wish to thank the many 

 technicians who spent long hours in the collection 

 and processing of samples. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Ahlstrom, E. H. 



1959. Vertical distribution of pelagic fish eggs and larvae off 

 California and Baja California. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. 

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1965. Kinds and abundance of fishes in the California 

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 Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 10:31-52. 



1969. Distributional atlas of fish larvae in the California 

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 and Pacific hake, Merluccius productus, 1951 through 

 1966. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Atlas 11, xi + 

 187 charts. 



1972. Distributional atlas of fish larvae in the California 

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Ahlstrom, E. H., and h. G. Moser. 



1975. Distributional atlas of fish larvae in the California 



108 



