(average time of retrieval was 32 s). After each 

 tow, the catch was drained on a 0.85-mm mesh 

 sieve and preserved in 5% buffered Formalin. 

 Sorting and identification of ichthyoplankton oc- 

 curred at the Marine Resources Research Institute 

 (MRRI). Fork lengths were measured in forked 

 tail species; total lengths in all others. Relative 

 volume of water strained was determined by the 

 formula: Relative volume strained = (Speed)(To- 

 tal tow time)(Average fraction of net in water). 

 The reader should consult Eldridge et al. ( 1977) for 

 further details concerning material and methods 

 as well as the experimental design. 



Results 



The 4.9-m net was superior to the 8.5-m net in 

 both ease of handling and minimizing damage to 



specimens after capture. There was no significant 

 difference in catching ability of the two nets al- 

 though the 4.9-m net actually caught more speci- 

 mens during the experiment (Eldridge et al. 1977). 

 The galvanized pipe frame was superior to the 

 aluminum. 



A total of 10,621 specimens of ichthyoneuston 

 were collected. The 20 most abundant taxa made 

 up 85.6% (9,088) of the total number of specimens. 

 The remaining 92 taxa composed 14.4% (1,533) of 

 the total (see Table 1 for most numerous taxa 

 collected). 



Analyses of variance and covariance tests re- 

 vealed that total tow duration, speed, and relative 

 volume strained did not vary significantly be- 

 tween day and night tows (Eldridge et al. 1977). 

 Thus, catches between diurnal periods did not ap- 

 pear biased by the conduct of the experiment. 



Table l. — Numbers of individuals of selected ichthyoneuston collected in neuston experiment (+ = significantly more 

 abundant for day or night, or no significant difference in catch between day and night at 5% level of significance). 



Taxon 



Total Number in Number in 



number caught night catches day catches 



Day 



Night 



Both 



Range total 

 length (mm) 



Number of 

 tows present 



Auxis sp 3,576 



Exocoetldae 1 ,245 



Scombridae 907 



Gerreidae 513 



Tetraodontldae 409 



Mullldae 348 



Mugil curema 230 



Priacanthldae 223 



Coryphaena hippurus 217 



Caranx crysos 191 



Gobiidae 180 



Angullllformes 143 



Carangldae 128 



Psenes maculatus 125 



Hemlramphidae 124 



Decapterus punctatus 118 



Monacanthus setifer 1 03 



Scorpaenidae 102 



Holocentridae 93 



Caranx sp 91 



Synodontidae 88 



Euthynnus alletteratus 67 



Monacanthus hispidus 64 



Opislhonema oglinum 62 



Istiophorus platypterus 59 



Decapterus sp 54 



Coryphaena equisetis 54 



Aluterus sp 49 



Trachinotus falcatus 48 



Balistldae 46 



Pomacentrldae 46 



Labridae 44 



Scomberomorus cavalla 41 



Serranldae 40 



Cynoglossidae 39 



Kyphosus sp. 39 



Selar crumenophthalmus 38 



Bothus sp 34 



Canthigaster sp, 33 



Monacanthus sp 33 



Dactylopterus volitans 30 



Serioa sp 26 



Seriola rivoliana 25 



Caranx hippos 23 



Syngnathidae 22 



Apogonldae 22 



Rachycentron canadum 1 9 



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