11-32 



In New Haven Harbor Surveys, cunner (3 to 28 cm long, Figure 

 11-8) have been caught primarily in otter trawls and secondarily in gill 

 nets; there are no reports of cunner being captured by beach seine. The 

 larger catches, exceeding 20 fish per net haul, occurred during the 

 months of May through August and prior to 1974 (Figure 11-9) . Because 

 of the habit of associating with obstructions , it is probable that this 

 species is undersampled, and is consequently more common than these 

 catch data indicate. Impingement rates have also been consistently low 

 for New Haven Harbor traveling screens , never exceeding more than two 

 fish in 24 hours; other Long Island power stations have reported impinge- 

 ment rates up to 10 times higher (NUSCO, 1977) . 



Sexual maturity is attained early in life, with most of the 

 young-of-the-year exhibiting sexually distinct gonads by their first 

 autumn (Dew, 1976) . According to Wheatland (1956) , spawning occurs from 

 May to October; however. Dew (1976) has claimed a much shorter period of 

 spawning activity (June to July) for Fisher's Island populations. Eggs 

 in the NHHS study were collected from May through September. The eggs 

 appear very similar to those of the yellowtail flounder {Limanda ferru- 

 ginea) and are virtually identical with those of the tautog (Tautoga 

 onitis) . New Haven Harbor collection records did not differentiate 

 these species, making determination of the spawning season length in New 

 Haven Harbor problematical. Nevertheless, we believe that the Labridae- 

 type eggs which occur in May and June (1.16 to 8.85 per m ) as well as 

 the eggs occurring later in the year are mostly cunner or tautog, as 

 yellowtail adults are extremely rare in New Haven Harbor, and larvae are 

 not observed in central Long Island Sound (Richards, 1959). The density 

 of labrid eggs was comparable to that observed in the Mystic River 

 estuary by Pearcy and Richards (1963) . 



Cunner larvae are foiond in surprisingly low abundances, given 



3 

 the estimated egg densities; maximum larval densities (0.26 per m ) 



occurred in July 1974. Similarly, Richards (1959) and Pearcy and 



Richards (1963) found high egg/larvae ratios in Long Island Sound and 



(Text continued on page 11-36) 



