4-54 



Sclar, 1952) and larvae have generally been rare. The hahr id/ Limanda 

 egg type has been common near the Millstone Point Nuclear Generating 

 Station; these eggs also appear to be primarily Labrids (Northeast 

 Utilities Service Company, 1976) . 



Urophycis/Enchelyopus/Peprilus eggs are also difficult to 

 distinguish from one another. Of the three component genera, Peprilus 

 triacanthus probably contributes least to this group since spawning is 

 apparently concentrated more offshore (Wheatland, 1956; Austin, 1976) , 

 although Peprilus eggs have been collected from Millstone Point (North- 

 east Utilities Service Company, 1976) and Narragansett Bay (Herman, 

 1963) . The majority of this egg type is probably Enchelyopus cimbrius 

 since other investigators found them relatively abundant in the Long 

 Island Sound Area (Table 4-7) , while Urophycis and Peprilus eggs were 

 generally unimportant. 



In New Haven Harbor from 1974 through 1977, total fish egg 

 abundance generally peaked during June and July (Table 4-9) when Anchoa 

 spp. eggs predominated (Figure 4-23) ; Scomber scombrus eggs, however, 

 comprised a major fraction during May 1975. Fish-egg abundance was 

 relatively low between August and April of each year (Table 4-9) . 

 Generally, fish egg densities were higher at Stations 18 and 20 from 

 1974 through 1976, while during 1977 fish eggs were more abundant at 

 Stations 8 and 11 (Table 4-9) . Dominant taxa were Labrids (1974-1976) , 

 Anchoa spp. (1976, 1977), and S. scombrus (1975) (Table 4-10). Although 

 sample collection only occurred monthly and preoperational (prior to 

 August 1975) data are limited, seasonality of the dominant taxa did not 

 appear to vary much over the four-year study period (Figure 4-23) . 

 Inter-year variation of dominants was consistent over all stations 

 (Table 4-10) . Inter-year variation in fish-egg abundance (Table 4-9) 

 was consistent with the inter-year variability found by other invest- 

 igators in the Long Island Sound area and is discussed below. 



Fish larvae were most abundant during July and August of each 

 year when Anchoa spp. predominated (Table 4-9; Figure 4-24) . In addition 



(Text continued on page 4-59) 



