FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 1 



GROWTH 



A length-frequency distribution (Figure 3) of 

 S. pumilio occurring in inshore waters indicates 

 that all belong to the same year class and that 

 no second year fish occur inshore. Small fish 

 which were apparently spawned in the summer 

 appear inshore in September, and some may 

 remain throughout the winter. Most probably 

 move to deeper water as the temperature drops 



15 20 25 30 35 40 45 

 STANDARD LENGTH (in mm) 



I 1 EatI Pats - 1968 



M3 East Past - 1969 



^ East Pass - 1970 



I I Others 



50 55 



Figure 3. — Monthly length-frequency distributions of 

 Serraniculus pumilio collected inshore at East Pass, 

 Choctawhatchee Bay, Fla., and at other locations in the 

 northern Gulf of Mexico. 



and move inshore again in March. No adults 

 were found after August, The largest specimen 

 collected during this study (54.1 mm) is consid- 

 erably smaller than the maximum size attained 

 (80 mm SL — Ginsburg, 1952) so possibly the 

 larger, second year fish remain offshore in deeper 

 water. 



FOOD HABITS AND PREDATION 



Thirty-one specimens were examined for 

 stomach contents, but two were empty. Results 

 of stomach analyses are shown in Table 1. S. 

 pumilio feeds predominantly upon crustaceans, 

 which made up 91% of the total number of food 

 items. Numerically, amphipods are the most 

 common group, but shrimps and crabs comprise 

 a larger volume of the stomach contents when 

 present and may be the most important food 

 items. Serraniculus appears to be an indiscrim- 

 inate carnivore, feeding upon any small organ- 

 ism which it discovers, but showing preference 

 for small crustaceans. 



The extent of predation by other fishes on 

 S. pumilio is not known. It seems strange that 

 D. S. Jordan never found this species in his ex- 

 tensive studies of the stomach contents of snap- 

 pers and groupers taken in the northern Gulf of 

 Mexico (Jordan, 1884, 1886; Jordan and Gilbert, 

 1882, 1883; Jordan and Swain, 1885). Stephen 

 A. Bortone (personal communication) found one 

 specimen in the stomach of a Lagodon rhom- 

 boides collected in Apalachee Bay, 11 October 

 1969, about 2 miles south of the St. Marks light- 

 house, Wakulla County, Fla., at a depth of about 

 3 m. The general cryptic coloration and seden- 

 tary habits of the pygmy sea bass may conceal 

 it from most predators. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The author was partially supported during this 

 study by a grant from the Sport Fishing Insti- 

 tute. This grant also provided funds to purchase 

 a boat for Florida State University which was 

 used extensively during this study. I thank the 

 many persons who assisted in the collection of 

 specimens examined during this study, especially 



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