Norcross and Wyanski: Recruitment pattern and abundance of Paralichthys dentatus 



595 



4); CPUE was higher in 1987 than in 1988. No other 

 differences were detected. For September-December 

 data, there were no significant differences in CPUE 

 among the 1986, 1987, and 1988 year classes (Table 4). 

 Gear efficiency changed as fish size increased. The 

 unlined trawl with 15.9-mm mesh in the codend pro- 

 duced generally lower CPUE values than the lined 

 trawl during April through June (Table 2). As the 

 age-0 specimens increased in size, the CPUE values 

 for the unlined trawl became higher than those for 

 the lined trawl. 



in timing of and size at first collection was reported 

 in New Jersey, where age-0 flounder (<50 mm) were 

 collected in the fall and during May but only occa- 

 sionally during the winter months (Able et al., 1990). 

 Thus, appearance of summer flounder in Virginia es- 

 tuaries seems to be more similar to that of New Jer- 

 sey (fall and late spring) rather than to that seen in 

 North Carolina (winter and early spring). The time 

 of first entrance in New Jersey, Virginia, and North 

 Carolina estuaries corresponds with spawning peri- 

 ods of September-December north, and November- 



Discussion 



The prolonged time of age-0 sum- 

 mer flounder recruitment to the 

 inshore waters of Virginia is more 

 extended than entry times for North 

 Carolina waters where age-0 

 P. dentatus enter estuaries from 

 December through April (Deubler, 

 1958), January through April 

 (Burke et al., 1991), or February 

 through April ( Warlen and Burke, 

 1990). October through May re- 

 cruitment to Virginia also agrees 

 with reports of transforming lar- 

 vae of P. dentatus (<20 mm TL) 

 entering New Jersey inlets from 

 October through May (Able et al., 

 1990). Age-0 summer flounder 

 were not collected from October 

 through May during all years of 

 our study. They may appear in the 

 fall or winter but often are not evi- 

 dent until April. Similar variation 



Table 3 



Summary of collection data from all sites by year class for age-0 Paralichthys 

 dentatus: number of 15-m seine hauls, number of age-0 flounder captured, 

 seine catch per unit of effort (CPUE) = number of age-0 flounder/haul, num- 

 ber of trawl tows, total minutes tow time for lined and unlined trawls, num- 

 ber age-0 flounder captured, trawl CPUE = number of flounder/5 min tow. 



Year class 



1986 



1987 



1988 



1989 



93 

 426.0 

 96 

 1.13 



94 

 467.0 

 97 

 1.04 



