Foraging Habits, Growth, and Temporal Patterns of Salt-Marsh Creek Habitat Use by Young-of-Year Summer Flounder in New Jersey

Abstract

Abstract Summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus were collected from intertidal and subtidal polyhaline marsh creeks in the Great Bay–Little Egg Harbor estuarine system in southern New Jersey during 1987–1990 to determine seasonality, duration of creek use by individuals, emigration rate, foraging habits, and daily growth rate of young-of-year fish in those habitats. Four hundred fifty-eight age-0 individuals (mean total length [TL], 238 mm; range, 156–312 mm) were collected from a combination of weir, seine, gill-net, and gig sampling. They were available to the collecting gear from late July through October, peaking numerically in September. Sixty-three (39%) of 162 tagged age-0 summer flounder were recaptured at least once during August–September. The average period of creek use was estimated at 17 d (range, 5–38 d) from release. Decline in percent recaptures suggested an emigration rate of 1.0%/d and 100% emigration within 50 d of release during August–October. Summer flounder appear to undergo tidal mo...