Juvenile winter flounder distribution by habitat type

Shallow embayments in Connecticut were sampled with a 1-m beam trawl for yo ung-of-year winter flounder from 1990-1993 to determine if there are habita t types within nursery areas which consistently yield higher abundances. In itial examination of catch frequencies and all physical measurements indica ted that only sediment type correlated with abundance. There was no consist ent pattern in winter flounder catch in relation to salinity, water tempera ture, water column turbidity, depth interval, channel/non-channel, or the p resence of sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca). Catch data were then classified into five habitat types defined by a combination of sediment and overlying litt er. Analysis of variance in catch among habitat types showed that mean catc h was significantly different among four of the five habitat types Highest densities within a site most often occurred in mud/shell-litter habitat, fo llowed by mud/wood-litter and mud/no litter habitat; sandy sites with or wi thout litter yielded the lowest densities. Independent sampling of new site s corroborated the distributional pattern seen at the original sites, and i mportance of mud/shell-litter habitat. The distributional pattern seen here can provide a means of assessing which sites would be expected to support a higher abundance of young-of-year winter flounder, and which sites might provide less, if no other factors intervene.