Fish Larvae Collected from the Northeastern Pacific Ocean 

 and Puget Sound During April and May 1967 



By 



KENNETH D. WALDRON, Fishery Biologist 



National Marine Fisheries Service 



Northwest Fisheries Center 



2725 Montlake Boulevard East 



Seattle, W A 98102 



ABSTRACT 



Fish larvae belonging; to 24 families and the suborder Blennioidea were collected 

 from Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon 

 during April and May 1967. All families and the Blennioidea were present in oceanic 

 waters, but only 13 families and the Blennioidea were present in Puget Sound. The most 

 abundant families in the oceanic area were Scorpaenidae, Myctophidae, and Pleuronectidae, 

 whereas in Puget Sound the most abundant families were Gadidae, Pleuronectidae, and 

 Scorpaenidae. Variations in composition and numbers of larvae in the catch were 

 associated with area, water depth, water temperature, and time of day at which the 

 collections were made. 



INTRODUCTION 



A large number of plankton samples have been 

 collected from the offshore waters of Washington 

 and Oregon, but there is a dearth of reports 

 about the fish larvae in these collections. This 

 lack of published reports became apparent during 

 an investigation of the spawning habits of 

 Pacific hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres), in 

 waters north of California. 



In 1965 an experimental fishery developed for 

 hake off the coasts of Washington and Oregon, 

 as well as within Puget Sound. At the same time 

 scientists at the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS: then the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries) began studies of the life history of 

 hake found in these waters. 



Two stocks contribute to the hake fishery of 

 Washington. One is present throughout the year 

 within Puget Sound, possibly extending north- 



ward into the Strait of Georgia, and is known to 

 spawn in Puget Sound.' The second, called the 

 oceanic stock, is present in the coastal waters 

 from California to at least southern British 

 Columbia (Grinols and Tillman, 1970; Nelson, 

 1970; Nelson and Larkins, 1970). From May to 

 November, adult oceanic hake are abundant 

 northward from central California to Southern 

 Vancouver Island, with the center of abundance 

 off northern Oregon and southern Washington; 

 they are scarce or absent from this same area 

 from December through April. It is also known 

 that large numbers of hake eggs and larvae are 

 present in waters off southern California during 



' Larkins, H. A., H. H. Shippen, and K. D. Waldron. 

 1967. Features of a northern Pu^et Sound hake popula- 

 tion. U.S. Dep. Commer., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., North- 

 west Fisheries Center, Seattle, Wash. Unpublished 

 manuscript, 19 p. 



