DISTRIBUTION OF PELAGIC METAMORPHIC-STAGE SANDDABS CITHARICHTHYS SORDIDUS AND C-STIGMAEUS WITHIN AREAS OF UPWELLING OFF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Upwelling and its associated offshore advection of surface waters can affect the recruitment of nearshore organisms. Late-stage pelagic Paci fic and speckled sanddabs, Citharichthys sordidus and C. stigmaeus, we re collected with a midwater trawl off central California during the s pring and summer upwelling season. In both species, otolith size incre ased linearly with metamorphic development; standard length, however, increased asymptotically. Earlier stages of both species occurred shal lower in the water column, whereas later stages occurred deeper. The d eeper distribution of later stages may have been due to decreased buoy ancy as a result of increased otolith size and ossification of bony st ructures coincident with metamorphosis. Earlier stages of both species were more abundant offshore and less abundant in areas of upwelling, whereas later stages were more abundant nearshore regardless of upwell ing. The difference in the horizontal distributions of early and late stages may have been passively driven by different current patterns as a result of the difference in vertical distributions between early an d late stages.