Abundance And Size 



147 



of water. Preceding each tow, temperature and salinity casts were taken with a 

 SeaBird 19 CTD and direction of tidal flow was recorded. CTD data were aver- 

 aged for the entire water column and all tows on a given date (Fig. 2), because 

 the oblique net tows integrated the larval catch from throughout the water col- 

 umn and the vertical distribution of the larvae was unknown. However, the sur- 

 face and bottom values were compared to show the amount of temperature and 

 salinity stratification in the channel at each station (Fig. 3). As observed from the 

 vessel, the channel currents were flooding on 15 of the 27 dates at Oregon Inlet 

 and on 20 of the 27 dates at Ocracoke Inlet. 



Fig. 3. Difference (anomaly) between the surface and the bottom temperature and 

 salinity at Oregon Inlet (solid line, squares) and Ocracoke Inlet (dashed line, tri- 

 angles), North Carolina, during the 1994-95 larval fish immigration period. Pos- 

 itive values indicate warmer or more saline water at the surface; negative values 

 indicate warmer or more saline at the bottom. Solid symbols indicate ebb tide 

 sampling; open symbols indicate flood tide sampling. 



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