spawning season along the entire Atlantic coast. 



II. Family Pleuronectidae— Righteye Flounders 



Glyptocephalus cynoglosnu (Linnaeus), witch flounder.— 

 Witch flounder are deepwater pleuronectids that range from 

 Newfoundland to North Carolina. They generally occur at 

 depths between 90 and 330 m. Although more common 

 north of Cape Cod than in the bight, adults are moderately 

 plentiful off southern New England (Bigelow and Schroeder 

 1953), where most of the larvae were collected during our 

 survey. Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) found no evidence of 

 seasonal movements, but Powles and Kohler (1970) reported 

 that adults tend to inhabit shallower depths in summer, the 

 spawning season, than in winter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 Spawning begins in the Gulf of Maine in the spring and 

 continues through the summer months, reaching its peak in 

 July and August (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). Larvae 

 were described by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) and Colton 

 and Marak (1969). 



We caught larvae from April to October. In the area 

 which we surveyed, spawning evidently peaked during May 

 and June, earlier than in more northern waters. It 

 apparently ended in July, since we caught no larvae in 

 August. Although larvae of this species were only 

 moderately abundant in our collections, they were numerous 

 enough to indicate the duration and peak of the spawning 

 season at the southern end of the witch flounder's range. 



When we first caught larvae in April, they were scattered 

 between North Carolina and Long Island over depths of 10 

 to 90 m (Fig. 50). Although some of the larvae were taken in 



shallower water than that normally frequented by adults, 

 we assumed from their small size and the narrow size range 

 that all were recently hatched. Colton and Marak (1969) 

 reported that larvae were 3.5 to 5.6 mm at hatching, with an 

 average length of 4.8 mm. Most of the witch flounder larvae 

 we caught in April were <6 mm (Table 13). 



Spawning advanced both northward and seaward in May. 

 While the distribution of larvae extended the entire length 

 of the bight, the center of abundance was located off Long 

 Island over 75 m of water (Fig. 51). The bottom tempera- 

 ture at the center of abundance was 5°C. We caught a great- 

 er size range of larvae than on the previous cruise, and the 

 number of small larvae indicated a marked increase in 

 spawning activity (Table 13). A significant north-to-south 

 gradation was evident in the size of larvae. Those captured 

 off Long Island and southern New England were small and 

 recently hatched (x = 5.6 mm). They were progressively 

 larger from New Jersey (x = 6.5 mm) to North Carolina (x 

 = 11.6 mm). This size difference might reflect growth dur- 

 ing transport southward along the shelf or, alternatively, 

 earlier spawning off North Carolina than off southern New 

 England. 



The distribution of larvae in June was continuous from 

 southern New England to Maryland. Further south, larvae 

 were scattered. The center of abundance occurred off 

 eastern Long Island and southern New England, east of that 

 in May, over 80 to 90 m of water (Fig. 52). Although the 

 areal extent of larval distribution was less than during the 

 previous cruise, the catch was slightly greater (Table 13). 

 The north-to-south progression in size of larvae was again 

 evident. Those caught off southern New England and 

 eastern Long Island had a mean length of 6.3 mm; off 



45 



