4-49 



In summary, the winter months (December through February) 

 represented a period of low zooplankton productivity. Earliest repro- 

 ductive response to the onset of spring conditions was typically found 

 among the ranking calanoid copepod species (particularly Acartia hud- 

 sonica) and barnacles (i.e., Balanus sp (p) . ) . Late spring and early 

 summer was a period of particularly intense reproductive activity for 

 many benthic invertebrates including barnacles, polychaetes, bivalves 

 and gastropods. Production of planktonic larvae continued throughout 

 the summer: as indicated by CB sample results smaller-bodied forms 

 reached maximum abundances and dominated plankton samples during the 

 warmest months of the year (July and August). Among the holoplankters, 

 Acartia tonsa usually became dominant during mid- to late summer. In 

 autumn, the winter faunal assemblage, consisting of calanoid copepods 

 and barnacle larvae, returned to prominence. The New Haven Harbor 

 plankton assemblage is consistent in composition and seasonal distri- 

 bution with that seen in greater Long Island Sound and nearby harbors. 



lohthijop lankton 



Of the more than 45 ichthyoplankton taxa identified in New 

 Haven Harbor from 1974 through 1977 (Appendix Table 4-2) , the dominant 

 forms (Table 4-6) were generally similar to those reported from Long 

 Island Sound and adjacent waters from 1943 through 1975 (Tables 4-7 and 

 4-8) . These dominant species included Anchoa spp. and hahrxd/ Limanda 

 eggs, and Anchoa spp. and Ammodytes larvae. Taxa dominant as adults and 

 juveniles in seine, trawl, and gill net collections made as part of the 

 Harbor Station monitoring program (Section 11.0) and Warfel and Merri- 

 man's seine collections (1944), but not important in ichthyoplankton 

 collections, included Menidia menidia, Fundulus spp., Brevoortia tyrannus , 

 Sphaeroides maculatus , Osmerus mordax , Microgadus tomcod and Alosa spp. 

 These predominantly shorezone species largely spawn in areas adjacent to 

 the harbor proper (freshwater reaches of the estuary and intertidal 

 beaches) which were not sampled for ichthyoplankton; the absence of 

 these species in the ichthyoplankton sampled does not indicate inability 

 to spawn in the area. 



(Text continued on page 4-53) 



