Retention of herring Clupea harengus larvae inside Minas Basin, inner Bay of Fundy
Minas Basin is one of the most tidally active and rapidly flushed macrotidal embayments in the world. But despite this, ichthyoplankton surveys in 1983 and 1984 have shown that herring larvae from spring spawnings inside the basin are retained and metamorphose there about 4 months after hatching. Both yolk-sac and post-yolk-sac larvae with a length range of about 5–20 mm are found in association at individual stations. Published growth rates suggest a residence time for the large larvae of 50–100 days, which agrees with the known lapsed time between first spawning and the time of the surveys of 60 days. The time for 1% retention of passive contaminants, estimated from known physical oceanographic characteristics, is 5 days. Distributions of smelt larvae and herring larvae within the basin are mutually discrete, which confirms the phenomenon of retention and demonstrates that the maintenance of position is effected by mechanisms that are stock and species specific. The estimated absolute size of the Minas Basin herring stock is at the lower end of the scale for herring stocks generally, and is associated with a correspondingly small retention area. This supports the view that absolute size is determined to a large extent by the area occupied by the larval stage.