4-66 



generally greater than those in Long Island Sound during 1952 and 1953 

 (Table 4-12) . It must be reiterated that such comparisons are limited 

 by differences in gear, gear deployment, and study design, which may 

 either mask or exaggerate naturally-occurring differences such as those 

 due to differences in year-class strength. Generally, however, for the 

 years compared, densities of P. americanus larvae in New Haven Harbor 

 were lower than those found in the Mystic River and near Millstone Point 

 (night collections) and those in Long Island Sound. Mean abundances 

 were generally greatest at Stations 8, 20 and 11 and lowest at Station 

 6; similar densities were observed during 1976 and 1977 (Table 4-12) . 

 Mean abundance at Station 8 (March through July) underwent the greatest 

 increase between 1975 and 1976 (850%) and 1976-1977 (350%) . 



Cynosaion vegalis 



Weakfish, Cynoscion regalis , are siimmer migrants in the Long 

 Island Sound area (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953) . Although several 

 studies have described spawning activities north of Chesapeake Bay (cf. 

 Merriner, 1976) , Harmic (1958, cited in Merriner, 1976) hypothesized 

 that northern spawning is probably not sufficient to maintain northern 

 populations, with recruitment to these areas dependent upon fish (age 

 III+) spawned in more southern waters. 



Weakfish larvae are present in Long Island Sound waters 

 between June and September (Merriman and Sclar, 1952; Wheatland, 1956; 

 Richards, 1959; Herman, 1963; Battelle, 1977) and have been most abun- 

 dant during July (Table 4-13) . Larval densities in New Haven Harbor 

 during July have generally been one to two orders of magnitude greater 

 than those reported from Millstone Point in 1976 (Battelle, 1977) and an 

 order of magnitude greater than those from Long Island Sound proper in 

 1952 and 1953 (Wheatland, 1956) (Table 4-13). Within New Haven Harbor, 

 fewest larvae have been collected at Stations 6 and 18, while greatest 

 concentrations have occurred at the two stations furthest apart. Stations 

 3 and 20; no explanation is available for this pattern (Figure 4-26) . 



