11-94 



their winter dormancy. Because of their choice of habitat, the adults 

 are relatively safe from predation as well as from sampling efforts. As 

 a result, we believe that their actual abundance exceeds our estimates 

 and that this species is abundant among the piers, groins and break- 

 waters of New Haven Harbor. Gunner feed heavily on bivalves, barnacles 

 and other benthos; probably on Mytilus edulis and Balanus spp. in New 

 Haven. The cunner is of little commercial or sport value, but is pro- 

 bably of great ecological significance due to its substantial contri- 

 bution to the ichthyoplankton, where it is second in abundance only to 

 the bay anchovy. These eggs have a high natural mortality in transition 

 to larvae, probably due to predation. New Haven Harbor provides neither 

 particularly extensive nor unique habitat for cunner. 



Demersal Migrants 



Soup 



Second to winter flounder, the scup is important in the Long 

 Island Sound commercial and sport fishery. Scup winter offshore and 

 spawn inshore in the spring and summer; it does not appear that spawning 

 occurs regularly near New Haven or to the west. Adults are uncommon in 

 New Haven; utilization of the harbor appears to be almost exclusively as 

 a nursery for young-of-the-year and yearling fishes. Since even this 

 utilization is inconsistent from year to year, it is apparent that New 

 Haven is not a critical habitat for Long Island Sound scup populations. 

 The occasional presence of numerous yoiong scup, however, may take a 

 heavy toll on the benthic infauna, Neomysis and Crangon populations, and 

 introduces competition for prey with the indigenous winter flounder and 

 windowpane populations . 



