RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



The fish studies at MNPS include data on over 100 taxa from icthyoplankton, impingement, trawl, 

 and seine samples collected from January 1976 through December 1985 (Appendices V through XVII). 

 The most common of these were: Ammodytes americanus (American sand lance), Anchoa spp. (anchovies), 

 Gasterosteus spp. (sticklebacks), Menidia spp. (silversides), Microgadus tomcod (Atlantic tomcod), 

 Myoxocephalus aenaeus (grubby). Raja spp. (skates), Stenotomus chrysops (scup), Scophthalmm aquosus 

 (windowpane), Tautoga onitis (tautog) and Tautogolahnis adspersus (cuimer). These taxa were typical of 

 fish assemblages found in other areas of LIS (Baird 1873; Bean 1903; Greeley 1938; Warfel and Merriman 

 1944; Merriman and Warfel, 1948; Wheatland 1956; Richards 1959, 1963; Richards et al. 1963; Pearcy and 

 Richards 1962; Perlmutter 1971; McHugh 1972; Saila and Pratt 1973) and the northeast (Bigelow and 

 Schroeder 1953; Briggs 1975; Fritzsche 1978; Leim and Scott 1966; McHugh 1977). Around the Shoreham 

 Nuclear Power Station in mid LIS, Austin and Amish (1974) reported a similar composition of ichthyofauna, 

 but they found that Cynosdon regalis was an abundant larval taxon. NAI (1979) and CT DEP (P. Howell, 

 pers. comm) also reported that these taxa were abundant among LIS ichthyofauna. 



Eight of the above taxa were selected for a detailed analysis based on their susceptibility to impact 

 from impingement and entrainment. The selected taxa were those that contributed at least 3% to the 

 total catches from either impingement or entrainment (Table 8 and Appendix V). Although winter 

 flounder met this criterion, this species was not included in the above mentioned group of eight taxa 

 because it is discussed in a separate report section (Winter Flounder Studies). American sand lance ranked 

 first among impinged taxa and third among entrained larval taxa. Larval anchovies ranked first in 



Table 8. Percentage contributed by each taxon to the estimates of total entrainment and impingement at IV1NPS during 1976-1985. 



Taxa 



Entrainment 

 Larvae Eggs 



Impingement 



Anchoa spp. 



Pseudopleuronectes americanus 

 Ammodytes americanus 

 Myoxocephalus aenaeus 

 Tautogolabrus adspersus 

 Tautoga onitis 

 Menidia spp. 

 Microgadus tomcod 

 Gasterosteus aaileatus 

 Gasterosteus wheatlandi 



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