that the most common fishes are the herrings (alewife and Atlantic herring) , 

 the flounders (winter flounder, American plaice, witch flounder, windowpane, 

 and smooth flounder), the codfish (Atlantic cod, haddock, Atlantic tomcod, 

 silver hake, red hake, white hake, American pollock, and ocean pout), the 

 sculpins (longhorn sculpin, shorthorn sculpin, and sea raven), the skates 

 (little skate, winter skate, and thorny skate), rainbow smelt, wrymouth, rock 

 gunnel, redfish, and the American eel. 



The distribution of fish species across the five aquatic systems in coastal 

 Maine, their relative abundance, seasonality, and regional distribution are 

 described in table 11-2. In the NWI classification, which was used in 

 compiling the information, systems are not always mapped according to their 

 degree of salinity and so a problem arises when the system is applied to fish 

 distribution. The estuarine system as described and mapped by NWI includes 

 much habitat "historically" classified as marine. Hence, many marine fishes 

 are found in habitats classified as estuarine. Of the 116 species recorded, 

 13 are strictly marine inhabitants, and 3 are found only in riverine systems. 

 There are no strictly estuarine, lacustrine, or palustrine fish species in 

 coastal Maine. The remaining 100 species, or 86%, inhabit two or more 

 systems. The alewife, American eel, three-spine stickleback, brook trout, and 

 white perch are found in all systems. 



The diversity of fishes in the major systems is illustrated in figure 11-1. 

 The marine system supports the highest diversity of fishes, followed by the 

 estuarine system, the riverine system, the lacustrine system, and the 

 palustrine system. Data on the relative biomass or density of fishes by 

 aquatic systems are not available. Because of their relative mobility and 

 general opportunistic nature, most fishes will frequent many subsystems and 

 classes among the different habitat systems for food, shelter, or spawning. 

 For example, most of the fishes that inhabit or pass through an estuary will 

 frequent an intertidal emergent wetland (salt marsh) at one time or another. 

 It is still difficult to identify which fishes are closely enough associated 

 with a particular habitat class so that their productivity might be altered by 

 a perturbation of that class. 



In general, most fishes exhibit habitat, system, and class preferences, 

 especially in their feeding and reproductive behavior (see sections on "Food 

 and Feeding" and "Reproduction," this chapter). Most pelagic marine fishes 

 (i.e., the herrings, striped bass, spiny dogfish, and mackerel) range 

 throughout the open waters. Many typically demersal marine fishes are more 

 closely associated with specific bottom and shore habitats. It is common to 

 find the American eel, sea raven, sea snail, snakeblenny, rock gunnel, tautog, 

 and radiated shanny along rocky shores and rock bottoms. Marine and estuarine 

 aquatic beds are preferred by some sculpins, and by the red and white hake, 

 cunner, and northern pipefish. Unconsolidated bottoms and flats in both 

 marine and estuarine systems support chiefly sand lance, alligatorf ish, 

 wrymouth, lumpfish, cod, the flounders, and skates. 



11-7 



10-80 



