74°05' 



oQuticot miles 



Figure 1.— Outline of Sandy Hooli Bay, N.J., divided into 18 blocks where finfish were sampled during an 



otter trawl survey, July to October 1970. 



6. Length-frequency distributions representing the size 

 distribution and changes in the size composition during the 

 survey of eight species (Figs. 14-21). 



SUMMARY 



Four species— winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes 

 americanus; striped searobin, Prinonotus evolans; window- 

 pane, Scophthalmus aquosus; and northern searobin, 

 Prionotus carolinus— accounted for 68.3% by number and 

 66.4% by weight of the total catch during the survey. 

 Although 10 of the most abundant species accounted for 

 95.0% by number and 84.6% by weight of the total catch, 

 only seven species occurred in more than 25% of the 

 collections (Appendix Table 1). 



Catches in the northern half of Sandy Hook Bay (station 

 blocks 1-9) contained a total of 35 species; those in the 

 southern half (station blocks 10-18) 22 species (Appendix 

 Table 2). The total catch both by weight and number in the 

 northern half exceeded that of the southern half (Figs. 2, 3). 

 The greater abundance and diversity of species in the 

 northern half of the survey area were believed to be related 

 to the deeper and slightly colder water found there (Table 1) 

 and proximity to the ocean (Fig. 1). 



The bay appears to provide a summer residence for 

 several important recreational and commercial species, 

 primarily red hake, Urophycis chuss; bluefish, Pomatomus 

 salatatrix; scup, Stenotomus chrysops; weakfish, Cynoscio7i 

 regalis; butterfish, Peprilus triacanthus; summer flounder, 

 Paralichthys dentatus; and winter flounder, Pseudopleuro- 

 nectes americanus (Appendix Table 2). 



LITERATURE CITED 



BAILEY, R. M., J. E. FITCH. E. S. HERALD, E. A. LACHNER, C. C. 

 LINDSAY, C. R. ROBINS, and W. B. SCOTT. 



1970. A list of common and scientific names of fishes from the 

 United States and Canada. 3d ed. Am. Fish. Soc.. Spec. Publ. 

 6, 149 p. 

 BARANS, C. A. 



1972. Spotted hake, Urophycis regius, of the York River and 

 lower Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake Sci. 13:59-62. 



BIGELOW, H. B.. and W. C. SCHROEDER. 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. U.S. Fish WUdl. Serv., Fish. 

 Bull. 53, 577 p. 

 FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION. 

 1967. Conference on pollution of Raritan Bay and adjacent inter 

 state waters. Proc. 3d Sess., Vol. 1, N.Y.. 448 p. 

 FINKELSTEIN, S. L. 



1969. Age and growth of scup in the waters of eastern Long Island. 

 N.Y. Fish Game J. 16:84-110. 



LUX, F. E. 



1973. Age and growth of the winter flounder, Psudopleuronectes 

 americanus. on Georges Bank. Fish. Bull.. U.S. 71:505-512. 



McEACHRAN, J. D.. and J. DAVIS. 



1970. Age and growth of the striped searobin. Trans. Am. Fish. 

 Soc. 99:343-352. 



MOORE, E. 



1947. Studies on the marine resources of southern New England. 

 VI. The sand flounder, Lophopsetta aquosa (Mitchill); a general 

 study of the species with special emphasis on age determination by 

 means of scales and otoliths. Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Collect. 

 Yale Univ. 11:1 79. 

 NICHOLS, J. T.. and C. M. BREDER, JR. 



1927. The marine fishes of New York and southern New England. 

 Zoologica (N.Y.) 9, 192 p. 



