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Fishery Bulletin 92(2). 1994 



during the 1986 and 1987 cruises. Flathead sole 

 (Hippoglossoides elassodon) eggs were the only pe- 

 lagic eggs other than walleye pollock collected and 

 were found in 28.4% of the samples. This species 

 had a mean density of 62.99 eggs/1000 m 3 

 (SD=179.66) and comprised 74.9% of the total egg 

 abundance in the 22 tows. 



A total of 33 larval taxa were identified but only 

 a few taxa occurred in more than 10% of the samples 

 (Table 2). Larvae other than walleye pollock oc- 

 curred in 92.4% of the collections but made up only 

 26.3% of the overall total abundance of larvae (to- 

 tal mean density=143.61 larvae/1000 m 3 ; 

 SD=257.03). Larvae of three taxa (H. elassodon , Am- 

 modytes hexapterus, and Bathymaster spp. 4 ) were 



found at sufficient densities to enable examination 

 of their vertical abundance and length distribution 

 patterns in detail for the four time periods. Two 

 other species (Gadus macrocephalus and Pleuro- 

 nectes bilineatus) were found at relatively high den- 

 sities during day and night but at low densities 

 during the twilight periods; hence, these taxa were 

 examined only for day-night differences. 



Vertical distribution 



The distribution of//, elassodon eggs showed little 

 variation in weighted mean depth by time of day 

 (F=3.10, P>0.05); the highest abundances were 



4 Larvae of three Bathymaster species known to occur in the 

 study area are presently not identifiable to species. Based on 



the abundance and distribution patterns of the adults, most of 

 the larvae present in our collections are probably B. signatus. 

 (A. Matarese, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA 

 98115. Pers. commun. 1992). 



