Hettler et al.: Variability in abundance of larval fishes inside Beaufort Inlet 
479 
Date 
Figure 1A 
Nightly mean densities (three tows each night) of larval Atlantic menhaden, 
Breuoortia tyrannus, and spot, Leiostomus xanthurus, caught near Beaufort 
Inlet, North Carolina. 
2, 4, 6 etc. produced a different daily mean and stan- 
dard deviation. 
Spectral analysis (ARIMA procedure) was used to 
examine the time series of densities for each species 
for evidence of periodicities. Weekly density data 
based on two methods were compared by using a 
paired-mean Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. The Laird 
version (Laird et al., 1965) of the log-transformed 
Gompertz growth equation (Zweifel and Lasker, 
1976) was used to describe the average growth of B. 
tyrannus larvae. The model was fitted to data for size 
and estimated age at time of capture. Log-trans- 
formed standard length (mm) and estimated age (in 
days) were used in the model (Warlen, 1992). 
In order to examine the possible effects of envi- 
ronmental variables on observed larval densities, we 
first fitted polynomial regression models to the daily 
densities for each of the species’ densities over time. 
Although a second-order polynomial was sufficient 
to describe the recruitment patterns of Paralichthys 
