Environmental factors influencing the distribution of juvenile groundfish in nearshore habitats of southwest Nova Scotia

Eight nearshore (<20 m) marine habitats were surveyed. DCA coupled with stepwise multiple regression best resolved the species' distributions and dominant gradients in the environment. The first 2 DCA axes reflected estuarine to coastal gradients (68% of the variance) and significant environmental variables were plotted as vectors in the ordination diagram. An estuarine assemblage of species, characterized by winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus and white hake Urophycis tenuis, was associated with waters that were warmer, less saline, more turbid, and overlying a finer grained substrate, than a coastal assemblage of species which included cod Gadus morhua and rock gunnel Pholis gunnellus. -from Authors