NET 

 PHYTOPLANKTON 



1 



MENHADEN 

 LARVAL FISHES 

 ANCHOVIES 

 SHAD 

 S ALEWIFE 



MARSH 

 CONSUMERS 



KILLIFISHES 



SILVERSIDES 



MUMMICHOG 



GOBIES 



HOGCHOKER 



NET 

 ZOOPLANKTON 



T 



SEAGRASS 



FPIFAUNA 



t 



WHITE PERCH 

 EELS 



WINTER FLOUNDER 

 CATFISHES 

 S- ATLANTIC CROAKER 



\ / 



BENTHIC 

 CRUSTACEANS 

 POLYCHAETES 

 BIVALVES 



S BLUEFISH 



STRIPED BASS 

 S WEAKFISHES 

 S SPOT 

 S DRUM 



■» BLUE 

 _► CRABS 



S MARCH TO NOVEMBER IN SYSTEM 



LARVAL FORMS 



Figure 7. Trophic dynamics of fish. 



leave the Bay for the ocean (Cronin and Mansueti 

 1971). 



Dominant fish fauna of the Bay, in terms of 

 biomass present and food consumed or material 

 flow, are the Atlantic menhaden, the sciaenids, 

 and the bluefish (Merriner, pers. coram.), 



Fishes feed on plankton and other fishes in the 

 water column, on bivalves, mollusks, crustaceans, 

 polychaetes and other benthic organisms, on the 

 epifauna and epiflora of seagrass communities, and 

 on consumers in the marsh. Thus all portions of 

 the Bay are important for the feeding ecology of 

 fishes. While spatial variations are not indicated in 

 figures 2 and 7, they may be very important in 

 terms of overall fish population dynamics because 

 of the need for suitable spawning areas. Different 

 areas of the Bay are crucial for different fishes, but 

 every part of the Bay serves as a spawning area for 

 some species. 



The bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), 

 which consumes fishes, is found in the Bay. Other 

 dolphins, porpoises, and the smaller toothed whales 

 are rarely recorded (Wass 1972). 



Migratory waterbirds feed in open water. Diving 

 ducks such as scaup (Aythya spp.) or canvasback 

 (Aythya valisineria) feed primarily on mollusks; 

 scoters (Melanitta spp.), oldsquaw (Clangula hy- 

 emalis), goldeneyes (Bucephala spp.), and ruddy 

 ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) eat crustaceans. Loons 

 (Gavia spp.), mergansers, (Mergus spp.) and nesting 

 ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) feed on fish. Fin- and 

 shellfishes are consumed by gulls (Laridae) in the 

 winter and terns in the summer (R. Andrew, pers. 

 comm.). 



DETAILED BAY MODEL 



To integrate the wetlands, plankton and nu- 

 trients, seagrass community, other benthos, and fish 

 trophic dynamics submodels (fig. 3 through 7) into 

 one model more detailed than the system overview 

 in figure 2, the connectivity matrix of figure 8 was 

 constructed. This matrix model contains the same 

 information as a combined box and arrow diagram, 

 but in a different format. With a little practice, the 

 matrix format is easier to read than the diagrams. 



Compartments in the connectivity matrix 



11 



