FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 2 



Figure l.— Stage II, the Navy re- 

 search platform 3.2 km offshore of 

 Panama City, Fla. (U.S. Navy photo.) 



by Pequegnat et al. (1967), Pequegnat and 

 Pequegnat (1968), and Culpepper and Pequegnat 

 (1969). Vick (1964) mentioned 13 species of fishes 

 either collected or reported from the stages and 

 vicinity. 



These platforms were examined occasionally 

 from 1970 to 1974 by the first and second authors 

 in connection with studies of reef fishes in the 

 northern Gulf of Mexico. During the fall of 1970 

 (Ogren) and summer of 1972 (Hastings and 

 Mabry), the authors participated in the Scien- 

 tist-in-the-Sea (SITS I and 11) diving program at 

 the Naval Coastal Systems Laboratory in Pan- 

 ama City and were able to make repeated obser- 

 vations at the platforms. 



Between September 1970 and January 1974, 10 

 dives were made at Stage I (including 1 night 

 dive) and 21 dives were made at Stage n to de- 

 termine the composition of the fish populations 

 under the structures (see Tables 1, 2). During the 

 SITS II program in 1972, a series of dives made at 

 various times during four consecutive 24-h 

 periods (1-4 August) enabled us to determine diel 

 patterns of concentration of fish schools around 

 and under the platforms. 



METHODS 



During each dive an attempt was made to iden- 

 tify each species of fish present in the area and to 

 estimate its abundance. At the end of a dive a 

 debriefing session was held and notes were com- 

 pared as to species and numbers observed. Divers 

 often carried hand nets or spears for collecting 

 unusual or difficult to identify species. 



Dives were usually conducted on an irregular 

 basis, and the length of the observation period 

 and the area examined varied considerably from 

 one dive to the next. Consequently, no numerical 

 values were assigned to these estimates of abun- 

 dance. Instead, relative terms such as few, sev- 

 eral, common, and abundant were used, simply to 

 indicate the impression received by the divers as 

 to the numbers of each species present. It should 

 be kept in mind, however, when considering these 

 estimates, that such relative terms may have dif- 

 ferent meanings when applied to different species 

 of fishes. For example, an absolute number such 

 as 100 individuals might be interpreted as few if 

 applied to a schooling species such as Harengula 

 pensacolae , but as abundant if applied to a soli- 



388 



