11-83 



stations) in New Haven was 174; the maximiim at Shoreham was 140 and the 

 mean was <30 weakfish/hr effort. One or more orders of magnitude 

 greater impingement may be directly correlated with greater density in 

 New Haven Harbor. 



In New Haven Harbor, weakfish larval densities consistently 



peaked during the month of July. The most abundant collections (0.22 



3 

 larvae per m ) occurred in July 1976, followed closely by the n\imbers 



3 

 collected in July 1977 (0.14 per m ). These densities are also 5 to 10 



times as high as densities recorded near other Long Island Sound power 



plants, (NUSCO, 1977, 1978; NYOSL, 1974) and are comparable to those 



observed for Long Island Sound by Wheatland (1956) . 



Bluef-ish (Pomatomus saltatrix) 



The bluefish is a predacious open-water species widely dis- 

 tributed in warm seas (temperature greater than 15 °C) . The adults are 

 highly regarded by sport fishermen for their ferocity and the excellent 

 eating quality of the flesh (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953) . Schools of 

 bluefish, sometimes consisting of more than a thousand individuals, are 

 well known for their frenzied attacks on schools of prey species, such 

 as mackerel, menhaden, herring, or alewives. The juveniles (6 to 25 cm) 

 called "snappers", feed on copepods, crustacean and mollusc larvae, and 

 on fish smaller than themselves. Snappers are rarely found far from 

 shore and often seek their prey in estuaries. They remain near the 

 coast as they retreat to warmer water southward in the fall , whereas the 

 adults over 45 cm move offshore to stay with warmer water (Lund and 

 Maltezos, 1970). 



In the New Haven Harbor Studies, snappers have been collected 

 primarily by gill nets and beach seines (Figure 11-33) . Peak catches 

 have occurred in July, August, Setember and October; no bluefish have 

 been taken from December through April. Occasionally, one or two adult 

 bluefish have been taken in gill net catches (Figure 11-34) . Warfel and 



(Text continued on page 11-88) 



