Figure 59. — August 1966. Distribution Bud relative abun- 

 dance of yeDowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea, larvae. 



smaller-sized larvae, no large ones occurred off southern 

 New England. Larvae >12 mm were distributed still farther 

 west and south than the large larvae. Their distribution 

 extended from western Long Island to North Carolina, 

 with the greatest abundance off Long Island and New 

 Jersey (Fig. 58). 



Spawning ended by August. We caught larvae from 

 southern New England to Chesapeake Bay, but in far fewer 

 numbers than in June (Fig. 59). Large larvae dominated the 

 catch, and we caught only one small larva (Table 14). 

 Intermediate-sized larvae were scattered from southern 

 New England to New Jersey. We found large larvae 

 scattered from New England to Chesapeake Bay, and larvae 

 >12 mm mostly off New Jersey. 



During the abbreviated cruise in mid-September, we 

 caught only four larvae, the last of the season. 



The distribution of all yellowtail flounder larvae was 

 continuous from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. The composite 

 figure is strongly influenced by catches in May and June, 

 with the area of greatest abundance extending from Cape 

 Cod to Chesapeake Bay (Fig. 60). We judged, from the 

 distribution of small larvae, that spawning was most 

 concentrated off New Jersey and southern New England. In 

 contrast, larvae >12 mm were concentrated off western 

 Long Island and New Jersey; only four were taken off 

 southern New England. Like most flatfish, yellowtail 

 flounder do not undertake extensive seasonal migrations. 

 Royce et al. (1959) found, however, that adults migrate 

 from waters off western Long Island to southern New 

 England in the spring. Fish tagged off western Long Island 

 in February were caught off southern New England during 

 summer, and back near the release site in winter. Thus, 

 some of the seasonal eastward shift in spawning, implied 

 from the shift in concentrations of our larvae <4 mm, might 

 be attributed to migrating adults. The near-absence of 

 larvae >12 mm off southern New England and their 

 presence off Long Island suggested that larvae originating 

 off southern New England swim or are carried out of the 

 area by currents to the area off New Jersey and Long 

 Island. Royce etal. (1959) also found large numbers of smaU 

 larvae in samples collected off southern New England in the 

 spring of 1932, but no late-stage larvae either there or to the 

 west. They concluded that the larvae originating off 

 southern New England were carried north or east beyond 

 the area covered by their data. Recently published data on 

 circulation off southern New England, inferred from drift 

 bottle and seabed drifter released between 1960 and 1970, 

 support their conclusion (Bumpus 1973). Furthermore, 

 Sette (1943) presented wind data recorded at Nantucket 

 Shoals Light during June 1932 that could account for the 

 transport of yellowtail flounder larvae to the north or east, 

 as Royce et al. (1959) suggested. Such an occurrence may 

 affect the year class that would normally replenish the 

 yellowtail flounder off Long Island and northern New 

 Jersey. 



Royce et al. (1959) surmised from samples collected in 

 1929 that spawning began in early April at the latest, when 

 bottom temperatures reached 5° to 7°C. Eggs in col- 

 lections they examined occurred over a minimum bottom 

 temperature of 4.8°C, and recently hatched larvae over 

 bottom temperatures ranging from 4.9°C in early May to 

 12. 3° C in late May. Most of the small specimens in our 

 samples occurred over similar bottom temperatures. We 

 caught 98% of those <4 mm over bottom temperatures 

 between 4.1° and 8.9°C, which is probably commensurate 

 with temperatures where spawning occurred. 



57 



