106 
Fishery Bulletin 106(1 ) 
availability of preferred prey items, such as pelagic 
fishes like bay anchovy and butterfish, may also be af- 
fecting the abundance and distribution of fish species 
(Vasslides, 2007). 
In summary, shoreface sand ridges may have a dis- 
tinct influence on fish abundance and assemblages. 
The near-ridge habitats have higher species abun- 
dances and richness compared to the surrounding 
inner continental shelf and also possess a distinct 
species assemblage, including both recreationally and 
commercially important species. Additionally, the fish 
found at the top of the ridge were typical prey spe- 
cies (sand lances, anchovies, smallmouth flounder) 
favored by both resident and transient piscivores in 
the Mid-Atlantic Bight (Chao and Musick, 1977; Chase, 
2002; Walter et al., 2003; Gartland et al., 2006) and 
thus sand ridges may influence the distribution of 
these economically important piscivores. As such, sand 
ridges appear to be important features of the inner 
continental shelf and may not be suitable areas for 
resource extraction activities. 
Acknowledgments 
This study owes a great deal to the post-doctoral stu- 
dents, graduate students, and technicians of the Rutgers 
University Marine Field Station who collected over 15 
years worth of data used in this research. S. Hagan and 
T. Grothues provided assistance with the data analysis 
and C. Van Pelt provided editorial support. This research 
was supported by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration Cooperative Marine Education and 
Research Grant and the Rutgers University Marine 
Field Station. This is contribution number 2007-12 of 
The Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers 
University. 
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