120 



Fishery Bulletin 103(1) 



STRAT 



DEP„-_SALGRA£ 

 . AYGQER . . . 

 AVGSAL 



DENGRA_ 

 AVGTEM 



o Outer 



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3 

 CO 



AVGTEM 



c 

 3 

 3 



3 



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CCA 1 



Figure 8 



Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) ordinations (portray- 

 ing the first and second dimension scores) of the larval fish 

 community data showing the correlations between environ- 

 mental variables, species, and station groups: (A) spring. (B) 

 summer, (C) fall, and (D) winter. The solid triangles mark the 

 location of taxa (as in Fig. 5), and the polygons surround the 

 three cross-shelf station groups (as in Fig. 4). The arrows depict 

 the gradient of each environmental variable. The dashed lines 

 intersect at the origin of the plot. Analyses were conducted 

 with both larval and environmental data. Refer to Table 3 

 for definitions of environmental variable codes. 



formed distinct groups. The fourth water mass, inner- 

 shelf-mid-shelf mixed water overlapped with either 

 inner-shelf or mid-shelf water depending on season. In 

 summary, the cross-shelf distribution and assemblages 

 of water masses coincided with the three cross-shelf 

 regions described: inner-shelf, mid-shelf, and outer-shelf 

 characterized by inner-shelf water, mid-shelf water, and 

 mid-shelf-Gulf Stream mixed water, respectively. 



Seasonal patterns in the cross-shelf distributions 

 of the larval fish community 



The ten percent data set revealed two distinct seasonal 

 station groups (Fig. 10). The winter stations occurred in 

 close proximity and were separate from stations sampled 

 during the rest of the seasons (Fig. 10A). However, inner- 

 shelf stations sampled during fall overlapped with the 

 winter stations because of the presence of winter and 

 fall spawning species (L. xanthurus and M. undulatus). 

 There was also overlap of the winter and the warm 

 weather outer-shelf stations (Fig. 10, A and B). 



Similarly, the ten percent data set revealed two 

 seasonal assemblages in the larval community data 

 (Fig. 10, C and D). The warm weather assemblage com- 

 prised taxa associated with the warm weather station 

 group and were collected during spring, summer, and 

 fall. The winter assemblage was associated with the 

 winter station group and comprised taxa collected dur- 

 ing winter. Taxa from the warm weather inner- and 

 mid-shelf assemblages were different from those rep- 

 resenting the winter inner- and mid-shelf assemblages 

 (Table 5). The outer-shelf assemblage, however, was less 

 seasonally distinct, represented by Bothus ocellatus/rob- 

 insi in summer, fall, and winter and by Auxis rochei in 

 spring, summer, and fall (Table 5). 



