308 
Fishery Bulletin 96(2), 1 998 
are most likely the result of much larger sample sizes 
(total for combined species was 1,314 fish measured 
in 1974-75 LWilk et al., 1978] vs. 69,072 in 1982- 
91[our study]). Briggs ( 1977) reported a single record 
of a striped searobin measuring 485 mm TL, which 
equaled the size of our largest striped searobin. Floyd 
(1980) reported the largest northern searobin 
as 26 cm TL (n=1795) and the largest striped 
searobin as 35 cm TL (n- 47) based on trawl 
collections south of Cape Hatteras. These find- 
ings support Ginsburg’s ( 1950) observation that 
searobin size increases with higher latitudes. 
Young-of-the-year (YOY) of both species 
were evident in all surveys (Figs. 5-7), par- 
ticularly during autumn months, when a size 
of 15 cm TL was used to separate YOY from 
older year classes (Richards et al., 1979; 
McBride and Able, 1994). Collections from 
Massachusett waters did not indicate over- 
wintering by YOY searobins near Cape Cod, 
a finding similar to that reported by Richards 
et al. (1979). In New Jersey nearshore wa- 
ters, YOY northern searobins were evident 
in April, suggesting that they had migrated 
back inshore in this region much sooner than 
had been observed farther north. 
Abundance 
Northern searobins were more abundant 
than striped searobins by numbers and fre- 
quency of occurrence. A total of 66,064 north- 
ern searobins were collected in 1,125 tows, 
whereas only 3,008 striped searobins were 
collected in 366 tows out of a total of 7,369 
NMFS tows during spring and autumn, 
1982-91. Both species were caught together 
in 202 of these 7,369 tows. In Massachusetts 
waters, northern searobins were also more 
numerous than striped searobins in spring 
(88,565 vs. 75 fish) and autumn (10,966 vs. 
374 fish) during 1982-91. And in New Jer- 
sey waters, northern searobins were more 
numerous than striped searobins (35,471 vs. 
5,258 fish) in 700 tows during 1989-92. 
Northern searobin aggregate weight was not, 
however, always heavier in coastal waters 
during autumn (Figs. 8 and 9) because striped 
searobins weigh more on average and because 
striped searobins occupy inshore habitats more 
frequently in the warmest season. In prox- 
imity to New Jersey, northern searobins ap- 
pear to migrate inshore earlier, peak in abun- 
dance earlier, and move offshore earlier than 
striped searobins, a behavior consistent with 
their postulated temperature preference. 
The Mid- Atlantic Bight (NMFS) time se- 
ries of stratified mean weight per tow was 
striped searobins (filled symbols) during five consecutive cruises for 
the New Jersey coastal survey (Table 2). 
