KENDALL and WALFORD SOIIRCES AND DLSTRIBl'TION OF BLUEFLSH 



MIDDLE 

 > ATLANTIC 

 BIGHT 



SOUTH 

 ^ATLANTIC 

 BIGHT 



PATHS 10 

 ^^ NUItSUBY 



FlGl!RE 1. — Major features of surface waters and bluefish larval 

 and juvenile distribution off the U.S. east coast. 



Cape Lookout, N.C. Over the year, as weather 

 permitted, 92 stations over 14 transects were 

 sampled during 8 cruises. In 1967-68, the study 

 continued, working from Cape Fear, N.C, to Palm 

 Beach, Fla., sampling at 80 stations over 14 tran- 

 sects during each of 4 seasonal cruises. Plankton 

 was sampled with Gulf V samplers (0.52-mm 

 mesh). The30-min step oblique tows were made at 

 2.1-2.6 m/s. Two nets were towed simultaneously; 

 one from the surface to 15 m, the other from 18 to 



33 m where water depths permitted. Details of 

 gear, procedures, and physical, plankton volume, 

 and juvenile fish data have been published (Clark 

 et al. 1969, 1970). 



The same procedures were followed on two addi- 

 tional cruises in 1966. One of these (D-66-2) sam- 

 pled 26 stations on five transects between 

 Jacksonville, Fla., and Palm Beach in February 

 1966. The other ( D-66-1 1 ) sampled 30 stations on 

 the four northernmost transects (Cape Cod to New- 

 Jersey) in September 1966. 



Collections for pelagicjuvenile fishes were made 

 during the cruises in 1965-66 with a scaled-down 

 Cobb midwater trawl (Clark et al. 1969). During 

 the cruises in 1967-68, several nets were towed for 

 juvenile fishes. At each station a surface meter net 

 with 6-mm mesh was towed beside the ship. Sub- 

 surface samplers included the scaled-down Cobb 

 trawl, and a 1-m and a 2-m ring net (Clark et al. 

 1970). 



Several offshore cruises from 1969through 1971 

 were designed mainly to augment the data on oc- 

 currences of bluefish juveniles. A surface meter 

 net and a Haedrich neuston net (Bartlett and 

 Haedrich 1968) were used in paired tows on most 

 of these cruises. Other sampling equipment used 

 at various times included dip nets with nightlights 

 and several types of midwater nets. 



In spring 1972, a series of eight weekly cruises 

 near Cape Hatteras aboard a chartered sport 

 fishing boat was conducted working from Oregon 

 Inlet, N.C, out into the Gulf Stream. On each 

 cruise, we made two neuston tows with a Haedrich 

 net near Cape Hatteras. One of these was in the 

 green coastal water, the other in the blue Gulf 

 Stream water, and each tow was within 100 m of 

 the interface between the two water masses. Dur- 

 ing the return to Oregon Inlet, some 60 km north 

 of Diamond Shoals Light Tower, several addi- 

 tional tows sampled the full range of surface water 

 temperatures occurring in the area. Weather and 

 water temperature data relative to these cruises 

 were gathered from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic 

 Office and the U.S. National Weather Service. 



Additional data on bluefish and juveniles and 

 ancillary observations from these collections are 

 available."* 



■•Kendall, A. W.. Jr., and L. A. Walford. 1978. Data as- 

 sociated with offshore larval and juvenile bluefish collections at 

 Sandy Hook Laboratory 1965-1972. Unpubl. manuscr,, .5 p. 

 Report No, SHL 78-9. Northeast Fisheries Center Sandy Hook 

 Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA, High- 

 lands, NJ 07732. 



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