The results of this study indicate that ichthyoplankton collections
made using 0.202mm and 0.333mm mesh nets towed
obliquely with the same gear for relatively short durations in the
northern Gulf of Mexico were largely overlapping. This suggests
that either mesh size may be sufficient to obtain reliable abundance
or size distribution estimates of ichthyoplankton when used under
the general tow constraints described above. This result is significant
in that one of our main objectives was to determine if FOCAL
ichthyoplankton samples (which were collected using primarily
0.202mmmeshnets during 2004–2006) were comparable with larval
fish data from large scale ichthyoplankton surveys that utilize
primarily 0.333mmmesh nets, such as the SEAMAP ichthyoplankton
survey. Our results are also consistent across a wide diversity
of families, suggesting that either net would be appropriate to estimate
larval abundances, although the 0.333mmhad the additional
advantage of sampling a more diverse larval assemblage.