Abundance And Size 151 



these species are coming from spawning areas that have cross-shelf transport 

 routes north of Cape Hatteras. Southern flounder, which were not abundant at 

 Oregon Inlet, peaked at Ocracoke Inlet in mid-February, the same period as 

 reported earlier for Beaufort Inlet by Burke et al. (1991). Gulf flounder (P. 

 albigutta), an abundant paralichyid south of Cape Hatteras, were not caught at 

 Oregon Inlet and therefore are not considered further. The largest numbers of 

 pinfish were caught at both inlets in mid-January. Spot also were most abundant 

 in mid-January, but only at Ocracoke. Early in the season Atlantic menhaden 

 were more abundant at Oregon Inlet than at Ocracoke, but both inlets had high 

 numbers in mid-December and mid-January. The high densities of Atlantic men- 

 haden at Oregon Inlet in November, a month before significant ingress into Ocra- 

 coke, suggests that spawning or favorable cross-shelf transport currents supply- 

 ing these larvae took place north of Cape Hatteras. In early October, concentra- 

 tions of Atlantic menhaden larvae have been reported as far south as Currituck 

 Beach, North Carolina, about 60 km north of Oregon Inlet (Kendall and Reintjes 

 1974). If this distribution also occurred in October 1994, larvae would have been 

 in position for transport to the inlet by November. The largest densities of 

 Atlantic menhaden observed during the season came into Ocracoke Inlet in mid- 

 March. Except for southern flounder, the abundance of all other species was low 

 in February at both inlets. 



Seasonal density patterns in 1994-1995 were different than those report- 

 ed for 1988-1989 (Hettler and Barker 1993). In 1988-1989, sampling was con- 

 ducted monthly with the same 0.8-m 2 , 800 micron-mesh-net on a 1-m-diameter 

 frame at the same stations as in 1994-1995. Because large variablity in density 

 estimates can occur as a result of infrequent sampling, monthly densities proba- 

 bly do not represent average monthly values (Hettler et al. 1997). However, in 

 that earlier study, Atlantic menhaden were most abundant at Ocracoke Inlet in 

 February (92 per 100 m 3 ) and at Oregon Inlet in March (222 per 100 m 3 ), where- 

 as in the present study density was highest in mid-March at Ocracoke Inlet and 

 mid-December at Oregon Inlet. Warlen (1994) also recorded peak menhaden 

 density (130 per 100 m 3 ) in February 1989 at Beaufort Inlet, earlier that year than 

 any other year between 1986 and 1992. In 1989, spot densities were less than 

 10% of their 1995 values at Ocracoke Inlet (27 per 100 m 3 ). Flounder densities 

 at any month were low during 1988-1989 (< 1 per 100m 3 ) for either species. 

 Southern flounder and pinfish were taken in 1988-1989 only at Ocracoke Inlet. 



SIZE 



For all species, significant differences in body size occurred between 

 inlets on many sampling dates (Fig. 5). Average lengths of Atlantic menhaden at 

 Oregon Inlet decreased in length during November and then rapidly increased by 

 about 10 mm in mid-December. Increasing density and decreasing size of 

 Atlantic menhaden larvae in early November at Oregon Inlet indicated that 



