Table 1. — Average of 1958-60 annual landings of selected 

 commercial species in Gulf of Mexico fisheries 



Mullet (silver) 2 



Spanish mackerel 



Pompano 



Mullet (striped) 



Grouper ' 



Jack (crevalle)— 



Permit 



Spot. 



Sea trout (spotted)... 

 Mojarra (sandjKTCh) 2 . 



Blue crab 



Red drum... 



Sea trout (white) 



Sheepshead 



Shrimp 3 



Oysters 



Black drum 



Menhaden 2 



Total 967,116,300 



Average 



Gulf 

 landings 



Pounds 



690, 300 



4,676,300 



506,700 



32, 962, 300 



S, 638, 000 



1,011,000 



40,300 



250, 300 



4,817,700 



282,700 



29, 199, 000 



2. 009, 300 



210, 700 



378,000 



190, 860, 700 



13. 409, 000 



1,651,000 



678, 523, 000 



West 

 Florida 

 landings 



Pounds 

 690, 300 



4, 645, 000 

 486. 000 



31, 293. 700 



5, 276. 000 

 890, 100 



30, 200 



188,700 



2,821,300 



150, 000 



13, 748, 300 



712, 100 



69,700 



107, 200 



40, 774, 000 



1,380,300 



129,000 



11, 092, 600 



114,484,500 



Average 

 3-county ' 

 landings 



Pounds 



137, 900 



364,900 



66,200 



8, 885, 700 



1,993,200 



92,200 



6,900 



38,400 



652, 300 



2.S. 91 III 



468. 900 



152,900 



54,400 



23,900 



12,357,900 



1,900 



43,900 



4,000 



25, 374, 400 



i Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Manatee. 



2 When several species were reported under a single common name by Fed- 

 eral and State statistical agents, they were listed accordingly regardless of 

 the number of species involved. 



Gulf catches. Oysters and black drum also were 

 included in the 0-25 percent range. Average 

 annual landings of these four species were 12 

 million pounds in Tampa Bay, 53 million pounds 

 on the west coast, and 884 million pounds in the 

 Gulf. 



BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS 



Monthly fish collections were made in the 

 Tampa Bay area during August 1961 through 

 November 1962. The study area encompassed 

 the entire Tampa Bay system extending from the 

 mouth throughout Old Tampa and Hillsborough 

 Bays (fig. 2). The hydrological influence of the 

 estuary extends into the Gulf for an undetermined 

 distance; however, in this report only the semi- 

 enclosed waters of Tampa Bay are regarded as 

 estuarine habitat. 



Gear used in collecting specimens consisted of 

 30-, 50-, and 70-foot minnow seines, a 10-foot 

 shrimp trawl, a 16-foot balloon trawl, a 3 x 3-foot 

 push net and a 6-foot cast net. Springer and 

 Woodburn (1960) used similar seines, push nets, 

 and, in addition, a roller frame trawl. In a quali- 

 tative assessment of the species occupying Tampa 

 Bay and the sizes of these species, the collections 

 by all types and sizes of gear were utilized and 

 included in this report. When quantitatively 

 describing occurrence by species and area, data 

 were restricted to collections from the 10-foot 

 shrimp trawl and the 50-foot seine. Duration of 



Figure 2. — Study areas and station locations in Tampa 

 Bay. 



each trawl haul was 10 minutes at 3-4 knots. 

 Seine operation was as similar as possible at each 

 station throughout the study period to insure 

 comparability of results in catch per unit of effort. 



Sampling stations were stratified throughout 

 the Bay to collect specimens from the full salinity 

 range. For comparison of species occupancy by 

 area and salinity range, the stations were grouped 

 to represent four areas based on salinity data from 

 Saloman, Finucane, and Kelly (1964): Area I— 

 lower Tampa Bay (salinity range, 21.92-37.16 %o, 

 mean — 31.95% Q ); Area II— central Tampa Bay 

 (salinity range, 15.88-33.53°/ o, mean— 24.48%o) ; 

 Area III — Old Tampa Bay (salinity range, 0.09- 

 31.83°/oo, mean— 24.53 %o); and Area IV— 

 Hillsborough Bay (salinity range, 1.58-30.46%o, 

 mean— 23.63%o) (fig. 2). 



The separation of specimens into immature or 

 adult classes was based upon (1) observations of 

 gonad development in relation to length frequency 

 data compiled at the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries Biological Station at St. Petersburg, 

 Beach, (2) published data on individual species 



IMMATURE SPECIES IN TAMPA BAY 



371 



