FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 83, NO. 4 



Offshore 

 Engraulidae 



Engraulis mordax 

 Bathylagidae 



Bathylagus ochotensis 



Bathylagus pacificus 

 Myctophidae 



Protomyctophum crockeri 



Protomyctophum thompsoni 



Stenobrachius leucopsarus 

 Bythitidae 



Brosmophycis marginata 

 Scorpaenidae 



Sebastes spp. 

 Bothidae 



Citharichthys sordidus 

 Pleuronectidae 



Glyptocephalus zachirus 



Lyopsetta exilis 

 Coastal-Offshore 

 Pleuronectidae 

 Hippoglossoides elassodon 



4.09 3.76 



1.12 



3.86 0.68 2.38 0.82 — — 1.12 1.27 



— — 0.78 — 0.74 1.27 10.27 1.87 



0.66 0.68 0.77 0.91 _ — _ 0.43 



— 8.28 15.05 32.99 — 3.53 1.12 8.71 



— — 0.71 — 



— 1.12 0.26 



in deeper water (40-50 m) and S. leucopsarus in 

 shallow water (5-20 m). 



Two species of larval flatfishes and Engraulis mor- 

 dax were collected only in summer samples. Glypto- 

 cephalus zachirus were most abundant during day 

 at 5-30 m, and Citharichthys sordidus at night below 

 50 m. Engraulis mordax larvae were collected only 

 above 10 m. Engraulis mordax were most abundant 

 at night when more than half were in very shallow 

 waters, <5 m. During the day, more E. mordax were 

 found at 5-10 m than at 0-5 m. 



A relationship between larval size and depth was 

 not evident for any species. Because of the low abun- 

 dances of larvae, however, this relationship could not 

 be adequately considered for most species. A change 

 in larval size with season was demonstrated for the 

 most abundant species (Tkble 8), with mean larval 

 standard lengths of all species greater in summer 

 than in spring samples. There were no obvious dif- 

 ferences between the size of larvae caught in day and 

 night summer samples. 



DISCUSSION 



Peak abundances of all taxa combined occurred at 

 10-30 m on all sample dates (Fig. 3) and character- 

 ized several individual taxa during the day, including 

 Clupea harengus, Osmeridae, Gadus macrocephalus, 

 Sebastes spp., and Parophrys vetulus, as well as 

 Lyopsetta exilis and Psettichthys mslanostictus in the 

 summer. The 10-30 m depth range bracketed the 



lower boundary of the seasonal thermocline in July, 

 although no thermocline was present in April-May 

 (Fig. 2). This trend for the peak abundance of fish 

 larvae to be centered near the thermocline is similar 

 to that found in other regions (Ahlstrom 1959; MOler 

 et al. 1963; Kendall and Naplin 1981). 



The trend for most larvae to be found in midwater 

 was similar to that described by Brewer et al. (1981) 

 for their deepest stations off southern California. We 

 did not find large concentrations of larvae near the 

 bottom as they did, except at night, when gadids, cot- 

 tids, cyclopterids, and pleuronectids were abundant. 

 Our sampling gear was ineffective just above the bot- 

 tom as compared with the roller-equipped gear used 

 by Brewer et al. (1981). 



Richardson and Pearcy (1977) found larvae to be 

 most abundant at 0-10 m and least abundant at 

 51-100 m during late May off Oregon. We found lar- 

 vae to be most abundant at 10-30 m. This difference 

 may be due to differences in hydrography and sta- 

 tion locations. Their station was 18 km offshore, 

 closer to the shelf break where the depth of water 

 was over 150 m deep. The faunal composition in each 

 study was also different. Richardson and Pearcy 

 (1977) captured more specimens of several surface- 

 associated taxa than we did, including large Clupea 

 harengus, Stenobrachius leucopsarus, Ronquilus jor- 

 dani, and Ammodytes hexapterus. We captured 

 higher densities of deeper dwelling taxa, including 

 gadids and cottids. Several taxa taken in both studies 

 had different distributions in each, including Sebastes 



618 



