LOUCH KT AL.: A(JK AND GROWTH OK LARVAL ATLANTIC HKRRING 



FIGURE 4. — Change in increment 

 thickness for three field-collected her- 

 ring larvae. Measurements were made 

 along a posterior radius from nucleus 

 edge through the penultimate incre- 

 ment. A. Total of 23 increments (see 

 Fig. 2B); 18.6 mm SL larva; Annan- 

 dale 76-01, Stn. 38. B. Total of 54 

 increments (see Fig. 2D); 21.6 mm SL 

 larvae; Researcher 76-01, Stn. 35. C. 

 Total of 150 increments, only initial 80 

 measured; 31.0 mm SL larva; Anton 

 Dohm 77-01, Stn. 33. 



2.5 



o 

 o 



CO 

 CO 

 LLl 



0.5 



\ 





10 



hi v v 



A -~ 



. n,1 / 



A ' V I I 





'fUl 



20 



30 



40 50 



INCREMENT 



60 



70 



80 



110.0 



100.0 



900 



800 



o 70 

 cc 



/ ,-'• 



10 



30 



40 50 



INCREMENT 



70 



80 



Figure 5.— Otolith radii vs. number of increments for the 

 same three larvae in Figure 4. 



rapidly, and then levels off at some point. This 

 same general pattern of otolith microstructure 

 was observed by Brothers and McFarland (1981) 

 for French grunts. 



Various allometric relations were examined 

 between otolith size and growth of the field- 

 caught larvae, and a few are presented here to 

 show the homogeneity of the measurements from 

 the three spawning populations sampled: west- 

 ern Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Nantucket 

 Shoals. A plot of the otolith anterior vs. posterior 

 radii in Figure 6 shows a linear relationship. The 

 posterior radius becomes increasingly longer 

 than the anterior radius with increment deposi- 

 tion. Otolith length plotted against head length 



200 



-5: 



cc 100 

 o 



Y = 5.33 + 0.77 X 

 r = 0.94 



W. GULF OF MAINE • 



GEORGES BANK O 



NANTUCKET SHOALS O 



50 100 150 200 



POSTERIOR RADIUS ( MICRONS ) 



250 



Figure 6.— Otolith anterior-posterior relation for herring lar- 

 vae collected from the three areas: western Gulf of Maine, 

 Georges Bank, and Nantucket Shoals, with composite regres- 

 sion line and correlation coefficient (r). 



193 



