93 
Abstract — To determine if shoreface 
sand ridges provide unique habitats 
for fish on the inner continental shelf, 
two cross-shelf trawl surveys (23 km 
in length) were conducted in south- 
ern New Jersey (July and September 
1991-95 with a beam trawl and July 
and September 1997-06 with an otter 
trawl) to assess whether species abun- 
dance, richness, and assemblages dif- 
fered on and away from the ridge. The 
dominant species collected with both 
gears were from the families Parali- 
chthyidae, Triglidae, Gobiidae, Ser- 
ranidae, Engraulidae, Stromateidae, 
and Sciaenidae. Overall abundance 
(n = 41,451 individuals) and species 
richness (n = 61 species) were distrib- 
uted bimodally across the nearshore 
to offshore transect, and the highest 
values were found on either side of the 
sand ridge regardless of gear type. 
Canonical correspondence analysis 
revealed three species assemblages: 
inshore (<5 meters depth), near-ridge 
(9-14 meters depth), and offshore (>14 
meters depth), and variation in spe- 
cies composition between gear types. 
Environmental factors that corre- 
sponded with the assemblage changes 
included depth, temperature, distance 
from the top of the ridge, and habi- 
tat complexity. The most abundant 
near-ridge assemblages were distinct 
and included economically important 
species. Sand ridges of the inner con- 
tinental shelf appear to be important 
habitat for a number of fish species 
and therefore may not be a suitable 
area for sand and gravel mining. 
Manuscript submitted 20 July 2007. 
Manuscript accepted 19 November 2007. 
Fish. Bull. 106:93-107 (2008). 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author and do not necessarily reflect 
the position of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Importance of shoreface sand ridges 
as habitat for fishes off the northeast coast 
of the United States 
James M. Vasslides (contact author) 
Email address: vasslide@marine.rutgers.edu 
Marine Field Station 
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 
Rutgers University 
800 do 132 Great Bay Blvd. 
Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087-2004 
Kenneth W. Abie 
Marine Field Station, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 
Rutgers University 
800 c/o 132 Great Bay Blvd., 
Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087-2004 
Shoreface sand ridges are common 
features within the inner continental 
shelf of the northeast Atlantic coast, 
although the importance of these sand 
ridges as fish habitat has received 
little attention. These topographic fea- 
tures consist of unconsolidated fine- to 
medium-grain sand, typically have 
vertical relief up to 10 meters, and 
are generally oriented obliquely to the 
adjacent shoreline (Stahl et ah, 1974; 
McBride and Moslow, 1991). Over 200 
shoreface sand ridges have been iden- 
tified from Montauk Point, New York, 
to Miami Beach, Florida, and over 
71 are found along the coast of New 
Jersey (McBride and Moslow, 1991). 
These sand ridges may be impor- 
tant bathymetric features for com- 
mercial and recreational fishing areas 
if they provide important fish habi- 
tat; however, there is little evidence 
to refute or support that possibility. 
Adults, settled juveniles, and larvae 
of a number of fish species have been 
documented on sand ridges and in the 
immediate vicinity of sand ridges, in- 
dicating that these features are used 
by multiple fish at various life history 
stages (Able et al., 2006). Although 
sand ridges may provide habitat for 
important fish species, sand ridges 
from Massachusetts to North Caro- 
lina, including ridges off New Jersey 
(Byrnes et al., 2004), have gained 
attention as potential locations from 
which to extract sand and gravel for 
ongoing beach nourishment projects 
and to provide construction materials 
(Drucker et al., 2004). Extraction of 
sand and gravel reduces the complex- 
ity of a ridge, rendering it similar to 
the surrounding bottom. 
Recent research on the effects of 
sand mining at ridges has focused 
on physical oceanographic processes 
(Nairn et al., 2004), and others with 
a focus on benthic invertebrates and 
their role in providing trophic sup- 
port to fishes have provided limited 
evaluation of the biological response 
to sand mining (Diaz et al., 2004; 
Nairn et al., 2004). Although season- 
al and spatial patterns of aquatic or- 
ganisms near sand ridges have been 
examined for the presence of decapod 
crustaceans (Viscido et ah, 1997) on 
and near sand ridges off New Jersey 
and for juvenile fish off Delaware and 
Maryland (Diaz et ah, 2003), there 
have been no evaluations of corre- 
spondingly varying spatial patterns in 
the fish community or of their causal 
relationships with sand ridges. 
If sand ridges provide unique habi- 
tat within inner continental shelf 
