Growth Rates of Juvenile Winter Flounder under Varying Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Abstract Fluctuations in juvenile winter flounder growth have been attributed to large-scale fluctuations in temperature, mesoscale fluctuations in salinity, and smaller-scale factors such as prey abundances. This study examines individual growth rates determined through otolith increment counts of free-living juvenile winter flounder during the 2000 settlement period (April 11–July 7) in Navesink River–Sandy Hook Bay estuary in New Jersey. The fish grew at highly variable rates (mean = 1.02, range = 0.25–1.91 mm/d) and did not demonstrate localized differences in growth. In addition, growth rates determined by changes in length of fish from two local areas (river and bay) were compared in the laboratory. Growth in these fish was highly variable, did not differ with location, but did decline significantly during the settlement period in the river (mean = 0.17 mm/d, range = 0.00–0.54 mm/d) and bay (mean = 0.27 mm/d, range = 0.02–0.61 mm/d). The laboratory observations supported field results of no signific...