514 
Fishery Bulletin 115(4) 
method in a New Jersey estuary found that black sea 
bass grow rapidly during the summer, with a growth 
rate of 0.74 mm TL/day from July to September, 
and with an average of 0.45 mm TL/day from spring 
through fall (Able and Hales, 1997). A laboratory study 
found that growth of black sea bass was higher when 
habitat structure was provided (Gwak, 2003). Because 
black sea bass are found in areas of hard bottom, the 
availability of structure may affect the growth rate of 
the juveniles found in the MCBs. Future studies will 
have to be conducted to test this hypothesis, but in 
studies of juvenile North African catfish (Clarias gari- 
epinus), an increase in resting time was observed when 
structure in the habitat was present—increased resting 
time would lead to an increase in growth rate (Hecht 
and Appelbaum, 1988). 
Understanding climatic effects on recruitment of 
black sea bass is crucial for the management of the 
species because the abundance of the fish that contrib¬ 
ute to the fishery depends on the number of recruits. In 
this study, we found that average salinity and the NAO 
index best predict recruitment of black sea bass. Catch 
of YOY black sea bass showed a significant positive 
relationship with salinity, which suggests that their 
abundance is relatively higher in the MCBs in years of 
lower-than-average freshwater discharge. In fact, the 
relatively high CPUE of YOY black sea bass in 1991, 
1997 to 2002, and 2006-2008 corresponded with years 
of higher salinity, whereas the lower CPUE in 1990 
and 2004-2005 corresponded with years of lower salin¬ 
ity in the MCBs (P. Chigbu, unpubl. data). Cotton et 
al. (2003) found that 20 and 30 were optima) salinity 
levels for YOY black sea bass. YOY black sea bass can 
tolerate salinities as low as 9 (Berlinsky et al., 2000), 
but they are primarily found in higher salinity areas 
of estuaries (Drohan et al., 2007). Because YOY black 
sea bass prefer areas of higher salinity and structured 
habitats, largely polyhaline coastal lagoons such as the 
MCBs may be very important habitats in contrast to 
river-dominated estuaries that experience larger sa¬ 
linity fluctuations. A recent study found that salinity 
may be important in the habitat selection of juvenile 
black sea bass in offshore areas of the continental shelf 
in the Mid-Atlantic Bight (Miller et al., 2016). During 
the overwintering period, juvenile black sea bass were 
found in areas with salinity levels of 33-35; years with 
strong recruitment in the spring were also years with 
warmer temperatures, higher salinity levels, and high¬ 
er shelf water volume (Miller et al., 2016). 
In the MCBs, CPUE of age-0 black sea bass was 
also higher when the NAO index was negative, which 
is associated with decreased westerly winds and lower 
temperatures in the region. The colder air during years 
with negative NAO indices brings less precipitation to 
the eastern United States and results in less freshwa¬ 
ter discharge and higher salinity in estuaries and the 
coastal ocean (Cullen et al., 2002) that, perhaps, favor 
recruitment of black sea bass. 
This study provides the first information on the spa¬ 
tial and temporal fluctuations in abundance of juvenile 
black sea bass in the MCBs. The results of our study 
provide insight into how a changing environment may 
impact recruitment of black sea bass into estuaries and 
show that future studies assessing the effects of cli¬ 
mate change on recruitment of YOY black sea bass are 
important for the future conservation of the estuarine 
habitats that black sea bass inhabit and for the fishery 
that targets this species. Information from this study 
can form a basis for more studies of black sea bass in 
mid-Atlantic coastal lagoons in order to increase our 
understanding of the importance of these features as 
nursery habitats for the species. 
Acknowledgments 
We would like to thank A. Willey and S. Doctor from 
the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for 
providing the data. We would also like to thank the 
Coastal Bays Fisheries Investigation Trawl and Beach 
Seine Survey team for collection of the data over the 
years. R. Peters was supported in part by the NSF 
CREST Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal 
Ecosystem Processes and Dynamics in the mid-Atlantic 
region and by the NOAA Living Marine Resources Co¬ 
operative Science Center. 
Literature cited 
Able, K. W., and L. S. Hales Jr. 
1997. Movements of juvenile black sea bass Centropristis 
striata (Linnaeus) in a southern New Jersey estuary. J. 
Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 213:153-167. 
Able, K. W., M. P. Fahay, and G. R. Shepherd. 
1995. Early life history of black sea bass, Centropristis 
striata, in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and a New Jersey es¬ 
tuary. Fish. Bull. 93:429-445. 
Allen, D. M., J. P. Clymer III, and S. S. Herman. 
1978. Fishes of Hereford Inlet Estuary, southern New Jer¬ 
sey, 138 p. Department of Biology, Center for Marine 
Environmental Studies, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, 
PA, and the Wetland Institute, Stone Harbor, NJ. 
Arve, J. 
1960. Preliminary report on attracting fish by oyster-shell 
plantings in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland. Chesapeake 
Sci. 1:58-65. 
Beck, M. W„ K. L. Heck Jr., K. W. Able, D. L. Childers, D. 
B. Eggleston, B. M. Gillanders, B. Halpern, C. G. Hays, K. 
Hoshino, T. J. Minello, et al. 
2001. The identification, conservation, and management 
of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and inver¬ 
tebrates: a better understanding of the habitats that 
serve as nurseries for marine species and the factors 
that create site-specific variability in nursery quality 
will improve conservation and management of these ar¬ 
eas. Bioscience 51:633-641. 
Berlinsky, D., M. Watson, G. Nardi, and T. M. Bradley. 
2000. nvestigations of selected parameters for growth of 
larval and juvenile black sea bass Centropristis striata 
L. J. World Aquae. Soc. 31:426-435. 
