FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 80, NO. 4 



by changes in abundance within a set of resident 

 estuarine species and of periodic species. 



In 1978 the ichthyofauna of upper Newport 

 Bay was subjected to rainfall twice that of a "nor- 

 mal" year (70.9 cm for 1978; mean 28.1 cm). The 

 specific effects of this increased precipitation are 

 difficult to assess due to a lack of data from pre- 

 vious years but some guarded comparisons can 

 be made. Population densities of Atherinops 

 affinis were lower in 1974-75 than those encoun- 

 tered during 1978 (Allen 1976). Also Cymato- 

 gaster aggregata, Clevelandia ios, and Leptocot- 

 tus armatus occurred in lower numbers in 1978 

 than in previous years (Horn and Allen 1981). 

 These discrepancies point out the strong year- 

 to-year fluctuations that occur in the fish popula- 

 tions of upper Newport Bay. This conclusion is in 

 complete agreement with the findings of Moore 

 (1978) and sheds doubt on the possibility of com- 

 pletely characterizing a "normal" year in many 

 estuaries because of unpredictable annual varia- 

 tions in climate. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This paper represents a portion of my disserta- 

 tion research completed at the University of 

 Southern California. For their support and guid- 

 ance I wish to thank my dissertation committee 

 members: Basil Nafpaktitis, Jon Kastendiek, 

 Robert Lavenberg, Kenneth Chen, and, espe- 

 cially, Michael Horn. A number of people deserve 

 my thanks for participating in the sampling pro- 

 gram over the 13-mo period; they are Gary 

 Devian, Frank Edmands, Terry Edwards, Den- 

 nis Hagner, John Hunter, Paul Kramsky, Marty 

 Meisler, Margaret Neighbors, Linda Sims, Vic 

 Tanny, Jr., Carol Usui, Brian White, and Craig 

 Wingert. Special thanks go out to Russell Bell- 

 mer (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), Jack Fan- 

 cher (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS), 

 Peter Haaker (California Department of Fish 

 and Game), Katie Heath, Jeff Jones, Marie Har- 

 vey, and Wayne White (USFWS) for their help in 

 carrying out the field work. I thank Ed DeMar- 

 tini and Michael Horn for offering helpful com- 

 ments on the manuscript. 



Financial support for this research was pro- 

 vided by a contract from the California Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game to California State Uni- 

 versity, Fullerton (M. H. Horn, Principal Investi- 

 gator). A 3-mo extension was generously funded 

 by the Orange County Fish and Game Commis- 

 sion. 



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