FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 77, NO 1 



Figure l. — Location of study sites for 

 cunner and young tautog within Fire 

 Island Inlet, Long Island, N-Y. i see text 

 for site descriptions!. 



FIRE ISLAND 

 INLET 



(s) 



© 



ROBERT MOSES 

 BRIDGE 



FIRE ISLAND 



October and will be referred to as seasonal sites. A 

 description of each site follows. 



Site A was the boat basin at the Fire Island 

 Coast Guard Station, an open pentagon ( 110 ^ 52 

 X 47 m), constructed of tongue-and-groove planks, 

 steel sheeting, and piles (011a et al. 1975). Along 

 the outer perimeter was a zone of riprap (0.2- 0.4 

 m in diameter), 3 m wide and 2 m high. The mean 

 water depth ranged from 2.4 to 8.8 m. Beds of the 

 mussel, Mytilus edulis. were located along the 

 walls, piles, and bottom. 



Site B was a 20.3-cm diameter drain pipe 

 originating at the Fire Island water treatment 

 plant. Located at a mean depth of 7.5 m, a 1.5-m 

 section of the pipe was exposed and paralleled the 

 bottom at a distance of 1 m. Beds of mussels sur- 

 rounded the pipe in about a 6-m radius. 



Site C was one of the support piers for the Robert 

 Moses Bridge, consisting of quarried stone and 

 reinforced concrete. The mean water depth was 7.5 

 m. The pier was incrusted with mussels to a depth 

 of 2 m below the high water mark. 



Sites D and E each consisted of an exposed verti- 

 cal mud bank about 6 m long and 1 m high. Irregu- 

 larly spaced along the face of each bank were ap- 

 proximately 35 to 50 holes, apparently a result of 

 erosion, varying in size from 12 to 20 cm wide and 

 5 to 15 cm deep. Small clumps of mussels were 

 distributed along the top of each bank. Site D was 

 at a mean depth of 6.0 m and Site E at 7.6 m. 



Site F was a grass bed which bordered a rocky 

 shore line for 75 m and extended out from the 

 shore 13-20 m. During the late spring and sum- 

 mer, the area typically consisted of dense growths 



of eelgrass, Zostera marina, and algae iCodiurn 

 spp., Enteromorpha spp., Polysiphonia spp., and 

 Ulva spp.). Beds of mussels were interspersed be- 

 tween the vegetation. Water depth throughout the 

 area varied from 0.3 to 1.5 m. 



A seventh area, a small cove at the mouth of Fire 

 Island Inlet, not designated in Figure 1, was the 

 site of two transfer experiments involving ex- 

 perimental cover. This site had a barren sand bot- 

 tom, primarily dredge spoil, at a mean depth of 3.7 

 m. 



Three methods, trapping, direct visual counts, 

 and tagging, were used to monitor, for both cunner 

 and tautog, the periods and limits of movements as 

 well as the types of habitats utilized. Fish traps 

 were placed at Sites A, B, C, D, and E with two 

 traps at Site A from March through November, 

 one trap at Site B from May through November, 

 and one trap each at Sites C, D, and E from June 

 through November. Traps at each site were pulled 

 at regular weekly intervals throughout the study 

 and the number of cunner and tautog recorded. To 

 compare the catch of the traps at the perennial site 

 with the catch at the seasonal sites, we calculated 

 the mean number offish caught per trap per week 

 for each habitat type. Traps captured cunner rang- 

 ing in size from 3.9 to 25.0 cm ix = 14.5 cm) and 

 tautog from 7.3 to 35.0 cm l.v = 16.9 cm). Traps also 

 provided the fish for the tagging portion of the 

 study, as well as one means of recapture. 



Visual counts of cunner and tautog were made 

 at Site F from the end of February through Oc- 

 tober. A series of six transects the length of the site 

 and 3 m wide were swum by divers, counting all 



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