Scup are bottom feeders, preying upon snail crustaceans, polycnaetes, 

 coelenterates and molluscs (^orse 1982). Adult scup are <nown to be a prey 

 species of spiny dogfish and weakfish (Maurer and Bowman 1975). 



Since the early 1900's, scup landings steadily increased until 1960, 

 peaking at about 12,250 MT. Between 1960 and 1971, landings decreased sharply 

 to a low of about 1,360 MT during 1971. Since that time landings have been 

 increasing steadily, again probably indicating an increase of abundance 

 (McHugh and Ginter 1978). 



Bottom Trawl Survey Results 



The cumulative spring and autumn distributions over the time series are 

 shown in Figures 15.1 and 15.2. These plots are good representations of what 

 is known of seasonal distribution of scup. The spring distribution shows the 

 fish concentrated offshore along the 100 m contour. If the spring data were 

 gathered more synoptically, the inshore concentrations would not occur. In 

 Figure 15.3, data from cruises prior to 1976 have been deleted, and a more 

 representative spring (March to April) distribution results. The autumn plot 

 (Figure 15.2) shows widespread dense inshore distribution throughout the Mid- 

 Atlantic with the indication of some offshore movement. 



The recovery of scup populations since 1971 is reflected in the graphs of 

 mean weight and number per tow (Figures 15.4-15.7). In the spring, catcnes 

 were almost exclusively offshore; in the autumn, catches were high in both 

 inshore and offshore strata sets. 



Length frequencies for six strata sets, arranged by season, are snown in 

 Figures 15.8-15.19. Fish over 20 cm were caught most frequently offshore 

 except for the northern New York Bight inshore strata set (Figure 15.3). Fish 



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