this size winter flounder change from a pelagic to a benthlc habitat and 

 thus were not susceptible to the plankton sampling gear. 



The mean length at each station for different developmental stages 

 provided additional insight into larval dispersion (Table 14) . Although 



Table 14. Mean length by stage of all measured larval winter flounde 

 taken at stations In the Nlantlc River and Bay and at MNPS. 



elopmental Number Mean Standard 

 stage Station measured length (mm) error 



Stage 2 larvae were fairly evenly distributed in Niantic River and Bay 

 (Fig. 10), the lag in temporal occurrence in Niantic Bay (Fig. 11) was 

 reflected in the larger mean lengths at station NB and EN. For Stages 3 

 to 5, the mean length was similar at all stations except NB, which had a 

 larger mean length for Stages 4 and 5. Based on these data, it appeared 

 that most of the dispersion from the Niantic River to Niantic Bay 

 occurred during the Stage 2 developmental period. 



Special studies 



Primarily Stage 3 (62% of total) and 4 (30%) winter flounder larvae 

 were collected during the two 24-h studies at station C. No apparent 

 day-night relationship was found (Fig. 13). However, the bimodal cycle 



39 



