FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 73, NO. 1 



Table 1 — Monthly occurrence and number of individuals of vertebrates and invertebrates collected with otter trawl at all stations 



from October 1971 through September 1972. 



'Did not occur in catches from August 1970 through August 1971 (Lindall et al. 1973). 



The four species of finfish caught in greatest 

 abundance represented 97% of the total number of 

 specimens (Table 1). They were the bay anchovy, 

 Anchoa mitchilli; striped anchovy, A. hepsetus; 

 silver perch, Bairdiella chrysura; and Atlantic 

 spadefish, Chaetodipterus faber. The bay anchovy 

 alone accounted for more than 93% of the total 

 number caught. 



In the previous year's study (Lindall et al. 1973) 

 the four dominant species of fish, representing 

 92% of the catch, were bay anchovy (7,557 indi- 

 viduals — 72%); spotfin mojarra, Eucinostomus 

 argenteus (921 individuals — 8.8%); spot, 

 Leiostomus xanthurus (821 individuals — 

 7.8%); silver jenny, Eucinostomus gula (372 

 individuals — 3.5%). The latter three species 

 combined consisted of only 15 individuals in the 

 present study and made up only 0.2% of the 

 catch (Table 1). Each of these three species is a 



bottom feeder (Darnell 1958; Springer and Wood- 

 burn 1960; Carr and Adams 1973), and the pro- 

 longed period of low dissolved oxygen at the bot- 

 tom of the canals probably accounted for the 99% 

 reduction in their numbers. 



The brief squid was the most abundant inver- 

 tebrate (54% of all invertebrates collected) and 

 made up about 1% of all animals collected during 

 the year. Based on the previous year's catch, the 

 number of squid in the canal system declined by 

 about 78% , while the total numbers of pink shrimp 

 and blue crab remained about the same. 



Of the 38 species collected during the year, most 

 occurred at Station 4 (28 species), followed by Sta- 

 tion 1 (21 species). Station 3 (18 species), and Sta- 

 tion 2 (14 species). Compared with the previous 

 year, the number of species collected at Stations 1 

 and 4 were about the same, but those at Stations 2 

 and 3 declined markedly (30% and 50% respec- 



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