Hippoglottiu hippoglo»$ui (Linnsieus), Atlantic halibut.— 

 Atlantic halibut inhabit boreal and subarctic waters on 

 both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Although they have been 

 caught as far south as Virginia in the western Atlantic, those 

 taken south and west of Nantucket Shoals and the southern 

 edge of Georges Bank are considered stragglers (Bigelow 

 and Schroeder 1953). Larvae were described by Schmidt 

 (1904). 



Unlike most other pleuronectids, halibut have an 

 extended spawning season. Ripe females have been re- 

 ported from April through early September from Georges 

 Bank to the Grand Banks. In the eastern Atlantic, most 

 spawning takes place in the spring, though ripe adults have 

 been captured as early as January (Bigelow and Schroeder 

 1953). 



We caught only one larva, a 21.2 mm specimen, during 

 the survey. It was taken near the Hudson Canyon at station 

 C-7 on 14 May (Fig. 1). It probably originated somewhere on 

 Georges Bank and was subsequently transported by coastal 

 circulation into the bight. 



HippogloM$oides platettoidet (Fabricius), American plai- 

 ce.— American plaice are found on both sides of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. This arctic-boreal pleuronectid is most common from 

 Newfoundland to Cape Cod in the western Atlantic. 

 Martha's Vineyard marks the southern limit of its range. 

 Spawning begins in March, peaks in May, and ends by 

 mid- June north of Cape Cod (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). 

 Larvae were described by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) 

 and Colton and Marak (1969). 



Our survey area overlapped the distribution of plaice in 

 the vicinity of Cape Cod. Although we caught larvae during 

 only one cruise, their occurrence in our samples conforms 

 with both the spawning season and the southern limit of 

 adult distribution reported by Bigelow and Schroeder 

 (1953). 



We caught 80 larvae in May at the northern end of the 

 survey area. There were no concentrations that would 

 suggest nearby spawning; instead, the larvae were 

 scattered mostly south of Martha's Vineyard (Fig. 55). 

 Their size range (5.1 to 16.4 mm), infrequent occurrence, 

 sparseness, and the general circulation pattern off southern 

 New England all suggest that these larvae had been 

 spawned along the southern edge of Georges Bank and 

 subsequently carried into the bight by currents. 



Limanda ferruginea (Storer), yellowtail flounder.— Yel- 

 lowtail flounder, the most economically important flatfish in 

 the western North Atlantic, range from the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence to Chesapeake Bay, but they are most abundant 

 from the western Gulf of Maine to southern New England. 

 Spawning north of Cape Cod begins in March, peaks in May, 

 and continues through the summer (Bigelow and Schroeder 

 1953). Although the center of abundance of adults lies north 

 and east of the bight, yellowtail flounder larvae were the 

 most abundant flatfish larvae in our collections. Larvae 

 were described by Perlmutter (1939), Bigelow and Schroe- 

 der (1953), and Colton and Marak (1969). 



Larvae first appeared in our April samples, and we 

 assume that spawning began sometime between then and 

 the end of the January-February cruise, probably in March. 

 Their distribution extended from North Carolina to the 

 eastern tip of Long Island. The greatest concentration of 

 larvae was located 55 km off southern New Jersey over 

 depths of 30 to 40 m, where the bottom temperature was 

 6.6°C. The majority of the larvae in the center of abundance 



Figure 55. -May 1966. Distribution and relative abundance of 

 American plaice, HippogloiioideM platet$oidei, larvae. 



52 



