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relationship clearly holds for herring, whereas the 

 evidence for sardines is not as strong. 



The Gadidae, and particularly cod, show strong 

 evidence for all three hypotheses. Haddock show 

 strong evidence for the first two hypotheses, and 

 weak nonsignificance for the third. The hakes of 

 the genus Merluccius, show strong evidence for 

 the hypothesis that strong year classes result from 

 relatively high spawner abundance, fair evidence 

 that the mean recruitment is greater for larger 

 spawner abundances, and no evidence for the sec- 

 ond hypothesis, except if there is a wide range of 

 spawner abundances. 



There is a relatively small range in observed 

 spawner abundances for pollock, known as "saithe" 

 in the eastern Atlantic. Given the narrow range of 

 observed spawner abundances, there is evidence 

 against the first hypothesis, some evidence for the 

 second hypothesis, and no evidence for the third. An 

 examination of the spawner recruitment curves for 

 this species shows stronger evidence for overcompen- 

 sation, i.e. reduced recruitment at high spawner 

 abundances, than for any other group (see plots in 

 Myers et al., 1995b). This species appears to be more 

 cannibalistic than other Gadidae. Whiting, which is 

 also highly cannibalistic, shows a similar narrow 



