The paper presents data on the schooling behaviour of young of the year of anchovy in Biscay recorded during the acoustic survey JUVAGA performed by IFREMER in october 2003. At the end of the larval drift which lasts approximately 100 days, juveniles are found scattered in a vast area and particularly around the shelf breaks and in the outer ocean off the coasts of Spain and France. The survey took place at a time when part of the young of the year where recruited to the adult stock in the inner part of the French shelf and part was still independent of the adult stock occupying shelf break juvenile habitats off the Spanish coast. The recruited juveniles showed similar shooling behaviour than the adults they were mixed with. In contrast, the independent juveniles showed typical juvenile schooling behaviour forming subsurface schools by day and night which were easily disaggregated. Adults were present in the inner part of the French shelf but not off the Spanish coast. The probability for juveniles which would not find the adult part of stock at age-0 to recruit to the stock with good survival rate at later age-1 is questionned. A hypothesis is build and discussed on the importance for the recruits to find the adults thus allowing closure of the life cycle and maintenance of the population in its occupation of habitats.