A deep look at the shallow end along the Jersey beaches.
To the casual beachgoer the waters along sandy beaches may appear relatively devoid of life other than possibly noticing a pod of dolphins frolicking nearshore or the occasional tern dive-bombing the surf in search of an easy meal.
However, as a surfcaster those of us that fish the ocean beaches of New Jersey know they offer prime fishing opportunities throughout the year and, by now, your forays to the beach have likely led you to become familiar with the seasonal comings and goings of your favorite target species and their prey.
For example, as the seasons progress, you know when to gear up for stripers in the spring, when to shift your attention to fluke or bluefish in the early summer, maybe take a shot at kingfish later in summer or albies in September, before switching back over to stripers again for the fall run. And the more time you spend on the sand and in the suds, the more you begin to pay attention to the coming and going of other members of the biological communities of the surf zone including juvenile and adult fish.
Limited Studies
Despite their value to anglers, the lack of standardized methodology for comprehensively and systematically sampling surf zone fish is recognized by scientists as a problem that has left this important environment under studied. In addition, the use of different types of sampling gear in the studies that have been conducted makes comparisons of species richness and abundance from one study to another difficult. As a result of fish frequenting the surf zone rarely being investigated, these communities are poorly known in most coastal regions, including here in New Jersey.
Nevertheless, from a qualitative standpoint, we do have a snapshot of sorts of what we do know about New Jersey’s surf zone fish communities from the few studies that exist. For example, one published study conducted by the Corps of Engineers used a 50- by 6-foot small mesh (6 mm) beach seine to sample surf zone fish at several locations along Monmouth County beaches from Asbury Park to Manasquan between August and October from 1995 to 1999. A total of 57 different types of fish from 30 different families were collected during this study.
Although there was seasonal and annual variability in the fish assemblages, the authors of this study noted that, like several published studies conducted on sandy beaches in other regions, a few species routinely dominated the catch. In fact, only 19 of the 57 different kinds of fish captured during this survey were collected in all 5 years of the study. Additionally, for those 5 years, five or fewer species accounted for over 90% of each year’s catch. These dominant species included Atlantic and rough silversides, juvenile bluefish, and bay and striped anchovies.
Other species that appeared relatively frequently included northern kingfish, Atlantic menhaden, blueback herring, and gizzard shad. They also found that species richness (number of species present) at any given time was primarily related to water temperature with a higher number of species collected in summer, decreasing in fall with decreasing water temperatures.
It is notable that the juvenile bluefish collected during the study represented individuals from both the New York Bight summer spawning cohort as well as individuals spawned in the spring in the South Atlantic Bight. Juveniles from the spring-spawned southern cohort of bluefish were typically more abundant in August samples, while the locally spawned cohort was more abundant in fall. They also often collected juveniles of several species that spawn south of the Mid-Atlantic including white mullet, Florida pompano, crevalle jack, and permit. These southern spawners are likely being carried northward by the Gulf Steam and move inshore off our coast in early-mid-summer to forage and grow before returning south again sometime in the fall.
Another published study documenting surf zone fishes along the New Jersey coast was conducted by Rutgers University in the late 1990s and was repeated in the mid-2000s. This study employed a 100- by 6-foot small mesh (6 mm) beach seine to document young-of-the-year (YoY) fish in the surf zone on Long Beach Island and an area just south of Little Egg Inlet. Sampling was conducted at 10 stations from May to October in 1998 and 1999 and again in 2005 and 2006. Overall, their study yielded YoY of 73 different types of fish frequenting the surf zone in this region. As with the Corps of Engineers study, a small number of species accounted for the majority (92%) of the species collected. Dominant fishes included YoY of Atlantic silversides, bay anchovies, bluefish from both northern and southern spawning cohorts, Northern kingfish, American sand lance (sand eels), Atlantic menhaden, Northern pipefish, and Atlantic croaker.
YoY of some 40 other species, including several kinds of herring, striped anchovies, and weakfish made limited appearances over the course of this study. Consistent with the Corps study, the authors of this paper also noted variability both within and between years. It’s interesting to note that in summer, they also routinely collected juveniles of a number of southern-spawned species along LBI, most notably the white mullet, Florida pompano, crevalle jack, and permit which were among the most frequently collected southern spawning species also collected by the Corps during their Monmouth County study.
Environmental DNA
Fish shed DNA-containing cells into their environment from scales, skin, and excrement. By collecting and processing a water sample, this DNA, known as environmental DNA or eDNA, can be extracted and analyzed to detect the presence of individual species. In addition, eDNA sampling over time can help scientists see how the fish community composition fluctuates seasonally and annually.
In 2024, Monmouth University’s endowed professor of marine science Dr. Jason Adolf and associate professor of marine conservation Dr. Keith Dunton began a surf zone fish monitoring project designed to better depict seasonal occurrence and distribution of surf zone fishes along the Jersey Coast using eDNA techniques. To accomplish this, Adolf and his team established sampling stations at beaches in Long Branch, Manasquan, Seaside, Surf City, Atlantic City, and Wildwood. Stations are being sampled four times a year with the assistance of trained volunteers from TAK Waterman in Long Branch, the fishing club at Manasquan High, the Berkeley Striper Club in Ocean County, and community volunteers in southern New Jersey.
To date, information from the initial two surveys (February 2024 and April 2024) has become available for researchers. Overall, a coastwide composite list of marine fish identified in the February 2024 samples included butterfish, conger eel, Atlantic menhaden, Atlantic silversides, northern sea robin, black sea bass, smallmouth flounder, windowpane flounder, striped bass as well as herring and hakes that could not be identified to the species level.
Species richness in April 2024 was higher than in February 2024, with the presence of over 30 types of marine fishes detected. In addition to butterfish, menhaden, Atlantic silversides, Northern sea robin, black sea bass, smallmouth flounder, windowpane flounder, and herring and hake species that were present in February the April samples included Atlantic croaker, gizzard shad, Atlantic mackerel, bay anchovies, mummichogs, summer flounder, sturgeon, and northern puffers.
A Look To The Future
Surf zones are highly dynamic environments, subject to short-term and long-term fluctuations in oceanographic and climatological conditions. These factors, along with the influence of biological factors like reproductive success, year class strength, and recruitment as well as local movements and seasonal migrations can result in fish assemblages of the surf zone being highly variable from location to location, as well as over time.
That said, although the limited studies discussed here differ in scope and methodology, their results begin to paint a preliminary picture of New Jersey’s surf zone fish community, and some general patterns begin to emerge:
- A small number of species, made up largely of juveniles, appear to dominate the surf scene in late summer and early fall. These include silversides, anchovies, bluefish, menhaden, various types of herring, and Northern kingfish.
- Seasonal and annual variability in community composition is a function of the dynamics of the environment and the life history of the species; however, in general species richness appears to increase as the seasons progress from winter, through spring to the summer, then decreases as water temperatures begin to drop in fall.
- In addition to young-of-the-year of locally spawned species, in summer and early fall juveniles of species spawned in the South Atlantic Bight appear in New Jersey’s surf zone.
Developing a thorough characterization of surf zone fishes is important to better understand and document the value of these habitats which, in turn, will enhance our ability to better assess the impacts of current and future use and development along the coastal zone. Monmouth’s researchers hope to accomplish this through continuation of their surf zone eDNA sampling.
However, although eDNA provides a cost-effective tool to identify species present and provide a measure of relative abundance, it cannot yet be used to determine the life history stage of a fish detected or the size distribution of individuals within a population. Therefore, moving forward it is their hope that coupling the eDNA monitoring with the results of more traditional sampling techniques such as seining, will account for the ‘net bias’ that typically plagues fishery surveys and allow them to develop a more comprehensive picture of fish distribution and abundance in this dynamic environment.
In addition, Adolf notes that since the same methodology can be applied to sampling fish communities in both in the surf zone and offshore, “perhaps this will lead to a better understanding of the connectivity between surf zone fishes and their offshore counterparts.”
Who knows, it may even unlock a few creative ideas for new and unusual baits or lures to mimic some previously overlooked abundant seasonal prey species.
The author recently retired as assistant dean of the School of Science at Monmouth University where he has specialized in marine ecology, coastal zone management, environmental science, marine recreational fisheries, and marine and environmental education. Professor Tiedemann is also a newly appointed member of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council.
