Stage 4. The left eye had reached the mid-line but juvenile 

 characteristics were not present 



Stage 5. Transformation to juvenile was complete and intense 

 pigmentation was present near the caudal fin base 



Larval collection frequency and density (n/500 m^) were used for 

 data analyses. Collection frequency was adjusted for the number of 

 samples at each station and sample volume. Density distribution plots 

 were smoothed using the spline function (SAS Institute Inc. 1981). 



Post-larval stage 



During 1983, information was gathered on post-larval juvenile 

 winter flounder in the Niantic River. Four stations were sampled 

 including Sandy Point (SP) , Lower River (LR) , Camp O'Neill (CO), and 

 Channel (CH) (Fig. 1)., SP, CO, and LR were selected because they had 

 good juvenile winter flounder habitat, with sandy to muddy bottoms in 

 shallow water adjacent to eelgrass beds (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). 

 Station CH was in a slightly deeper area between stands of eelgrass and 

 the navigation channel. Depths sampled at all stations ranged from 

 about 1 to 3 m. The stations were sampled once each week from May 18 

 through October 12 during daylight from 2 h before to 1 h after high 

 tide. A 1-m beam trawl which had interchangable nets of 0.8-, 1.6-, 

 3.2-, and 6.4-mm bar mesh was used; the nets were changed as fish grew 

 and became available to the next largest size. A tickler chain was 

 added to the net for use with the three largest meshes. Three 

 replicates were made at each station and distance of each tow was 

 estimated by letting out a measured line attached to a lead weight. 

 Tows of 40 and 50 m made initially were increased to 75 and 100 m as the 

 number of fish decreased throughout the summer and early fall. For data 

 analysis and calculation of CPUE, the catch at each station was adjusted 

 to 100 m^ of bottom covered by the beam trawl. 



Juveniles were measured to the nearest 0.5 mm in total length. 

 During the first 5 weeks of the study, standard length was also measured 

 as many of specimens had damaged caudal fin rays and total length could 

 not be taken. The relationship between the two was determined by a 



11 



