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Fishery Bulletin 99(4) 
peake Bay (Hostetter and Munroe, 1993). When water tem- 
peratures remains above 9-10°C, 5 a viable winter inshore 
fishery exists for tautog within lower Chesapeake Bay. 
Within the winter fishery, inshore catches occur predomi- 
nantly in December and March, whereas offshore catches 
occur predominantly in January and February. Occurrence 
of an inshore winter fishery for tautog in Virginia is unique 
within this species’ geographic distribution. 
Tautog remained inshore during the summer at a maxi- 
mum sustained water temperature of 27°C (Arendt et ah, 
in press). Summer residence data have been supported by 
direct underwater observations. 6 Infrequent recreational 
catches of tautog in lower Chesapeake Bay during sum- 
mer have also been reported. 2 Inshore, summer residence 
of tautog has been documented for Great South Bay, NY, 
when water temperatures were 19-24°C (Olla et al., 1974) 
and Narragansett Bay, RI, at maximum sustained water 
temperatures of 22°C. 7 These findings contradict reports 
from Virginia (Adams, 1993), New York (Briggs, 1969), and 
Rhode Island (Cooper, 1966) that adult tautog may move 
offshore to cooler water during summer. 
Tautog remained inshore during summer in the absence 
of blue mussels ( Mytilus edulis), a primary food item of 
tautog in northern areas (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953; Ol- 
la et ah, 1974). In June 1998-99, using underwater video, 
otter trawl, and oyster dredge, we documented large clus- 
ters of live blue mussels at study sites and noted growth 
of mussels on VR1 mooring units. By July 1998-99, blue 
mussels were not present at any of these sites. Absence 
of mussels in July in both years was most likely due to le- 
thal effects of water temperatures >27°C (Wells and Gray, 
1960). 
Because blue mussels are not present in lower Chesa- 
peake Bay year round, the diet of tautog inhabiting lower 
Chesapeake Bay throughout the year may be more diverse 
than that of tautog in northern areas. Stomach contents 
from an ultrasonically tagged tautog recaptured in Octo- 
ber 1999 at the Ridged Bottom site consisted primarily of 
the bryozoan Alcyinidium verilli. At an artificial fishing 
reef near Cape Charles, VA, tautog consumed a variety of 
crustaceans, shellfish, bryozoans, and hydroids. 8 Similar 
temporal distributions of blue mussels have been reported 
5 White, G. G., J. E. Kirkley, and J. A. Lucy. 1997. Quantitative 
assessment of fishing mortality for tautog ( Tautoga onitis ) in 
Virginia. Preliminary report, 54 p. Department of Fisheries 
Science and Marine Advisory Program, Virginia Institute of 
Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, 
VA 23062. 
6 Hager, C. 1999 (July). Personal communication of direct un- 
derwater observation of tautog at Plantation Light (3-8 m 
depth), 2 km southeast of Texeco Wreck study site. School of 
Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute 
of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA 23062. 
7 Castro, K. 1999 (October). Personal communication of water 
temperature observation for Narragansett Bay. East Farm- 
Fisheries Center, Univ. Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881. 
8 Feigenbaum, D., C. Blair, and A. J. Provenzano. 1985. Artifi- 
cial reef study — year II report. Virginia Marine Resources Com- 
mission rep. VMRC-83-1 185-616, 57 p. VA Institute of Marine 
Science, Gloucester Point, VA 23062. 
in Delaware Bay, where diets of tautog subsequently shift 
towards alternative, less nutritious food items at times 
when blue mussels are unavailable. 9 
Year-round occurrence of adult tautog in Chesapeake 
Bay differs from seasonal (spring and fall) inshore occur- 
rence of adult tautog in Great South Bay, NY (Olla et al., 
1974; Briggs, 1977), Narragansett Bay, RI (Cooper, 1966), 
and the Weweantic River Estuary, MA (Stolgitis, 1970). 
Year-round occurrence of ultrasonically tagged tautog was 
consistent with large-scale patterns of occurrence of tau- 
tog from conventionally tagged tautog (127-584 mm TL) 
in the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program between 1995 
and 1999. 2 5 Of 563 recaptured tautog that were originally 
tagged in lower Chesapeake Bay, excluding Cape Charles, 
and adjacent coastal waters, 85% (n=476) were recaptured 
at the same sites where released 0-1214 d earlier, includ- 
ing 20 multiple recaptures of individuals at the same sites 
where originally released. High incidence of recaptures 
of tautog at the same sites where they were released oc- 
curred during all seasons. Only 5% of all recapture events 
involved movement (8-97 km) of tautog between Chesa- 
peake Bay and adjacent coastal waters. 
Daily detection patterns were almost always similar 
for both VR1 receivers at sites, indicating that tautog re- 
mained within the central signal reception area of both 
VR1 receivers and in the general vicinity of sites through- 
out the entire day. Tautog were generally not detected by 
VR1 receivers at night; however, tautog likely remained 
at sites throughout the night (Arendt et al., in press). Tau- 
tog were likely detected less often (or not at all) at night 
because of nocturnal quiescence in or near structure (Olla 
et al., 1974) and therefore were effectively out of range 
of VR1 receivers because of the presence of an acoustic 
barrier (Matthews, 1992; Pearcy, 1992; Bradbury et al., 
1995,1997; Zeller, 1997). 
Featureless bottom topography, a known deterrent to 
emigration for large, temperate labrids ( Notolabrus tetri- 
cus, N. fucicola, Pictilabrus laticlavius, Pseudolabrus psit- 
taculus) in Tasmania (Barrett, 1995), did not act as a de- 
terrent to emigration for tautog in lower Chesapeake Bay. 
Two tautog (ID20, ID28) released at the Texeco Wreck in 
fall 1998 traversed a wide (2-km), deep (37-40 m) mud- 
bottomed channel (Wright et al., 1987) on at least three 
occasions, and one of these tautog (ID20) was subsequent- 
ly recaptured. Two tautog (ID19, ID28) traveled between 
the Texeco Wreck and a site 2 km south of the Texeco 
Wreck on at least 12 occasions. A third tautog (ID33) left 
the Texeco Wreck almost immediately after being released 
and was subsequently detected (VR60 receiver) at this site 
throughout the remainder of our study. 
Movement by tautog was assumed to represent actual 
movement by tagged tautog as opposed to movement of a 
9 Steimle, F., K. Foster, W. Muir, and B. Conlin. 1999. The diet 
of tautog collected on an artificial reef in Delaware Bay and 
interannual effects of prey availability (and notes on other 
tautog diet studies in the middle Atlantic Bight). First Biennial 
Conference on the biology of tautog and cunner, Mystic, CT, 30 
November-1 December 1999. National Marine Fisheries Ser- 
vice, Highlands, NJ 07732. 
