Table 13. — The eeaaonal distribution of witch flounder, Glyptocephalue 

 cynogloseuB , larvae by size. Numbers are adjusted to standardize sam- 



western Long Island to Virginia 10.7 mm; and off North 

 Carolina 28.0 mm. 



Spawning had nearly ended by August. Although the dis- 

 tribution of larvae was continuous from New England to 

 North Carolina, we caught far fewer than during the 

 previous two cruises, and larvae <6 mm were taken at only 

 two stations (Fig. 53). Compared to the previous cruise, 

 larvae throughout the survey area increased in average size. 

 Those caught in the northern corner of the survey area had 

 a mean length of 10.1 mm, and from Long Island to Virginia 



18.0 mm. The lone specimen caught off North Carolina was 



27.1 mm long. 



Cruises in September and October yielded a total of 12 



larvae, which were scattered from southern New England to 

 the outer banks of North Carolina. Only two were <15 mm, 

 which is further evidence that spawning in the bight had run 

 its course by August, a month when spawning is at its peak 

 north of Cape Cod. 



As with other spring-spawning flatfishes, the spawning 

 season of witch flounder beg^s in the southern part of the 

 range and subsequently progresses northward. Although 

 we first caught larvae off Virginia and North Carolina, the 

 most important spawning grounds in the bight were off 

 Long Island and southern New England, the part of the 

 survey area where other pleuronectid larvae (Fig. 54) were 

 most abundant during our survey. 



49 



