) to evaluate spatial and temporal differences in ichthyoplankton catches. Larval fish assemblages were represented by 11 species. The most abundant larvae included American eel Anguilla rostrata, summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus, and spot Leiostomus xanthurus. Common larval fishes did not differ in number between northern and southern inlets that provide access between Chincoteague Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, but did differ among years and between seasons. Wind angle and offshore water temperature were predictive of ingress for some species, but patterns were not strong. Canonical correspondence analyses of ichthyoplankton assemblage data indicated that ingress was better predicted by season and year rather than specific environmental variables (e.g. offshore water temperature, moon phase, wind angle). Seasonal patterns in larval fish ingress were consistent with those from other coastal lagoon networks along the eastern USA seaboard. Preliminary work suggests that interannual variation in larval fish abundance was generally related to juvenile fish abundance. We encourage more efforts aimed at larval fish monitoring, which may serve as a relatively inexpensive method for addressing larger spatio-temporal scale questions about fish recruitment. KEY WORDS: Environment · Coastal bay · Inlet · Recruitment · Marine · EstuaryResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Mar Ecol Prog Ser 377: 203-212, 2009 Along the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia a number of fishes use estuaries as nurseries (Casey & Wesche 2001), including species that are recreationally valuable (e.g. summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus L.), commercially valuable (e.g. Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe)), and ecologically valuable (e.g. Bay anchovy Anchoa mitchilli (Cuvier & Valenciennes)). Despite their potential value as nurseries for Atlantic coastal stocks, no work has been published on the use of the coastal lagoons of Maryland and Virginia (hereafter, the coastal lagoons) by larval fishes. Larval fish studies of the coastal lagoons also fill an important geographic data gap between more northerly and southerly inlets with the longest running larval fish monitoring programs on the eastern coast of the USA (Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey and Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina) (Hettler & Hare 1998.The objectives of our study were (1) to determine the abundance and species of larval fish entering the largest coastal estuary of Maryland and Virginia, Chincoteague Bay, (2) to determine if larval fish densities differ between seasons (November to January; February to April), among years (2004 to 2007), or between 2 inlets of Chincoteague Bay, (3) to determine if measured climatic and habitat variables were significantly related to composition of ichthyoplankton entering Chincoteague Bay, and (4) to provide preliminary results on how larval densities and environmental conditions affected juvenile abundance in 3 years for 3 species of fish: Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus (L.), spot...

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