OLLA ET AL SEASONAL DISPERSAL OF CUNNER AND TAUTOG 



torpor was observed at which time the fish actu- 

 ally burrowed under them being almost com- 

 pletely covered by sand. These structures differed 

 from the ones the fish used throughout the rest of 

 the year at night. In the field, the offshore move- 

 ment of the adults begins 4 to 8 wk before they 

 would encounter temperatures that would induce 

 torpor (011a et al. 1974), indicating a change in 

 habitat requirements with season. About the 

 same time that adult tautog are moving offshore, 

 cunner and young tautog are moving to perennial 

 sites. 



Association with cover is no doubt a strongly 

 motivated behavior for young tautog and cunner, 

 but one for which there is a considerable range of 

 adaptation. Under seasonally changing conditions 

 or when habitats are simply suboptimal as in the 

 transfer experiments, the animals will disperse, 

 leaving cover at the risk of predation until alter- 

 nate sites are found (as discussed earlier). On the 

 other hand, a closer association results from tran- 

 sient environmental causes, such as the presence 

 of predators resulting in young tautog fleeing to 

 cover (011a et al. 1974). Similarly, elevated tem- 

 perature stress causes young tautog to associate 

 more closely with cover, at least under laboratory 

 conditions (011a and Studholme 1975). 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We wish to thank the personnel of the U.S. 

 Coast Guard, Fire Island Station, N.Y., for their 

 assistance and cooperation. 



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