Vasslides and Able: Importance of shoreface sand ridges as habitat for fishes 
99 
Table 2 
Catch per unit of effort (CPUE, with standard error in parentheses) and mean size (mm, with standard error in parentheses) for 
species captured during late summer beam trawl sampling from 1991 through 1995. Station assemblages were determined by 
using canonical correspondence analysis as shown in Figure 5B. Taxa were measured to total length ( t), fork length (*), or body 
width (f). A dash indicates that no data were available. 
Species 
Station assemblage 
Inshore 
Near-ri 
dge+offshore 
CPUE 
Size 
CPUE 
Size 
Syngnathus fuscus t 
0.61 (0.27) 
108(13) 
0.37 (0.11) 
128 (11) 
Prionotus carolinus t 
0.17 (0.09) 
55 (9) 
4.16 (0.95) 
24(2) 
Scophthalmus aquosos t 
0.28(0.18) 
114 (14) 
0.23 (0.09) 
233(7) 
Sphoeroides maculatus t 
0.11 (0.08) 
105 (5) 
0.40 (0.12) 
47 (9) 
Etropus microstomus t 
0.5 (0.25) 
45 (10) 
17.79 (3.39) 
27 (1) 
Micropogonias undulatus t 
1.06 (0.61) 
15 (2) 
0.81 (0.54) 
25(1) 
Prionotus evolans f 
0.17 (0.12) 
48 (14) 
0.53 (0.24) 
74(18) 
Hippocampus erectus t 
0.11 (0.08) 
68 (17) 
0.05 (0.03) 
59 (4) 
Centropristis striatus t 
0.11 (0.11) 
52 (8) 
4.09 (1.58) 
38(1) 
Cynoscion regalis t 
0.22 (0.17) 
75 (4) 
— 
— 
Ammodytes americanus * 
0.06 (0.06) 
76 (-) 
— 
— 
Ammodytes spp. * 
0.06 (0.06) 
81 (-) 
— 
— 
Menticirrhus sp. t 
2.83 (1.2) 
39(3) 
— 
— 
Gobiosoma sp. t 
0.39 (0.33) 
34 (2) 
— 
— 
Urophycis regia t 
— 
— 
0.35(0.09) 
201 (15) 
JJrophycis chuss t 
— 
— 
1.3 (0.40) 
30(1) 
Gobiosoma ginsburgi f 
— 
— 
5.28 (1.71) 
30 (1) 
Ophidion marginatum t 
— 
— 
0.16(0.09) 
189 (12) 
Paralichthys dentatus t 
— 
— 
0.16 (0.09) 
165 (51) 
Raja erinacea t 
— 
— 
0.09 (0.04) 
251 (25) 
Bothus sp. | 
— 
— 
0.02 (0.02) 
22 (-) 
Raja eglanteria $ 
— 
— 
0.02 (0.02) 
420 (-) 
Tautogolabrus adspersus t 
— 
— 
0.02 (0.02) 
29 (-) 
croaker, weakfish, and silver perch (Bairdiella 
chrysoura) were all present at relatively high 
abundances (Table 4). Bay anchovy and butter- 
fish were the dominant species in the offshore 
assemblage (Table 4). The preponderance of spe- 
cies found near the ridge compared to offshore 
was reflected in the ordination by the number of 
species centroids associated with the near-ridge 
assemblage. However, some species were found at 
similar abundances in more than one assemblage 
(i.e., scup t Stenotomus chrysops ]), and their cen- 
troids may have been located closer to, but not 
within, any one assemblage (Fig. 6D). 
The percentage of variance of the species-envi- 
ronment interaction reflected in the midsummer 
(54%) and late summer (67%) ordinations was 
substantial across both time periods (Table 5). 
Temperature, depth, and dissolved oxygen were 
significant environmental variables that ex- 
plained the species assemblages in midsummer; 
whereas distance from the ridge and depth were 
the primary factors in late summer (Table 6). 
