KRYGIER and PEARCY: NURSERY AREAS FOR YOUNG ENGLISH SOLE 



' N  D 



Figure 4— Abundances of settling (<20 mm SL) English sole in Yaquina Bay for 1970-79 (solid line) and Moolack Beach for 1970-79 



(dashed line). 



occurred during March 1970, January and February 

 1971, 1972, and April-May 1979, suggesting sea- 

 sonal variation in spawning activity of adults (see 

 Kruse and Tyler 1983), mortality of planktonic 

 stages, or movement of young into or out of the 

 estuary. 



Seasonal trends in catches of transforming 

 English sole in Yaquina Bay and at Moolack Beach 

 for 1978 and 1979 shows that fish <20 mm were 

 found 1-2 mo earlier at Moolack Beach than in Ya- 

 quina Bay during both years (Fig. 4). Moreover, 



tinued at Moolack Beach from 18 to 50 d after 

 settling fish were no longer found within the estuary. 

 Tb our surprise, similar densities of settling fish were 

 caught in both areas. Seasonal trends were some- 

 times similar, suggesting a common source of lar- 

 vae and similar processes affecting variations in 

 recruitment of metamorphosing fish at both the 

 open-coast and estuarine areas. 



The catches/m 2 of age groups and I English 

 sole (20-150 mm) are plotted as catch curves for each 

 5 mm size group (Fig. 5) where 



no. m 2 = 



2 of the number of individuals in each 5 mm size group 



total area sampled in m 2 during sampling periods 

 in which year class occurred 



recruitment of the 1978 and 1979 year classes con- Trends in the abundance of English sole were often 



125 



