538 



Fishery Bulletin 90(3), 1992 



(In press), growth rates varied significantly, depending 

 on location in the estuary and habitat type (vegetated 

 or unvegetated). Across four experiments and a total 

 of 141 tautog, growth averaged 0.18 mm/day, with a 

 range of -0.47 to +0.84 mm. At the site (Great Bay 

 1) and habitat (sea lettuce) supporting the fastest 

 growth, the mean rate was 0.45 mm/day. Thus, length- 

 frequency patterns and otolith ages reported in this 

 study provided growth estimates that were higher than 

 the overall average in caging experiments but com- 

 parable to rates for tautog caged in the best habitats. 

 Based on throw-trapping results, juvenile tautog were 

 rare at those sites and habitats where growth in cages 

 was poor (Sogard In press). Thus, for the areas where 

 tautog were likely to be common, the directly measured 

 growth rate in cages was comparable to rates indirectly 

 calculated for unrestrained fishes. The three methods 

 together estimated a rapid growth rate of about 0.5 

 mm/day for southern New Jersey estuaries during the 

 first summer. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank Dan Roelke and additional Rutgers Marine 

 Field Station personnel for their assistance in field 

 sampling. Dave Witting and Steve Szedlmayer coor- 

 dinated the plankton sampling and trawling collections, 

 respectively, in Great Bay. Susan Kaiser provided 

 valuable help in data compilation and analysis. We are 

 especially grateful to Rich McBride for his assistance 

 with the otolith validation studies. Financial support 

 was provided through New Jersey Sea Grant NA89AA- 

 D-SG057 (NJSG-92-258). 



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