SPATIAL AND SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF EGGS AND LARVAE OF SANDY SPRAT, HYPERLOPHUS-VITTATUS (CLUPEIDAE), OFF SOUTH-WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Ichthyoplankton surveys were employed to determine the distribution an d spawning season of Hyperlophus vittatus off south-western Australia. Eggs and larvae of H. vittatus were sampled with 500-mu m-mesh bongo- nets monthly during 1992, and less regularly during 1993, close to the beach and at 5.5 and 11 km offshore in four areas within the region o f the fishery. The spatio-temporal distribution and abundance of eggs indicates that H. vittatus spawns in nearshore marine waters from May to September, with a peak in June and July. Larvae were rarer and less abundant than the eggs and therefore were less reliable indicators of spawning areas and season. Samples taken along transects across the c ontinental shelf in July of both 1993 and 1994 indicated that H. vitta tus did not spawn further than 14 km from the coast. Samples taken in July 1994 just beyond the surf zone at beaches, and at corresponding s ites 5.5 km offshore, at 3.7-km intervals along 150 km of coastline in dicated that H. vittatus spawns throughout the distribution of the fis hed stock off south-western Australia.