colae) . It is produced in and inhabits the Tampa 

 Bay area in great abundance throughout most of 

 the year. The sardine is utilized heavily as a live 

 bait in Tampa Bay and the adjacent Gulf areas. 

 Other forage species abundant in the estuary are 

 the tidewater silverside (Menidia beryllina), the 

 bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli) , the pinfish (Lago- 

 don rhomboides), the thread herring {Opisthonema 

 oglinum), and the silver perch (Bairdiella ehrysura). 



The number of species of finfish, shrimp, and 

 crabs recorded from the Tampa Bay area now 

 stands at 265 (Springer and Woodburn, 1960; 

 Dragovich and Kelly, 1964). Most of these prob- 

 ably occupy an important ecological niche in the 

 estuary and supply food to commercial and sport 

 species of both Gulf and Bay. Obviously, a por- 

 tion of the harvest of major fisheries in the Gulf is 

 connected directly to the production and develop- 

 ment of young forms in Tampa Bay. This is 

 especially true of species found in catches of the 

 eastern Gulf or on the Florida west coast. This 

 estuary, of course, is not the only one important 

 in the role of supplying Gulf fisheries. Sykes 

 (1965) estimated that some 7,500 square miles 

 or 4.8 million acres of estuarine area exist on the 

 periphery of the Gulf. 



The general public tends to view Tampa Bay 

 either as an area of good but declining sport fishing 

 or as an area for waterfront homesites. The present 

 and future importance of Tampa Bay as a food 

 source should be taken into account when pro- 

 posals are filed for permission to enclose areas with 

 bulkheads or create land masses in the estuary. 

 This is especially true when such structures will 

 divert currents, allow encroachment of high- 

 salinity waters into upper areas, or otherwise sig- 

 nificantly alter rearing areas of the species 

 discussed. 



SUMMARY 



Biological collections showed that the five most 

 important species in Gulf of Mexico commercial 

 fisheries inhabit Tampa Bay in immature stages 

 of development. Eighteen species of less impor- 

 tance in Gulf catches were also found in immature 

 stages in the Bay. The qualitative distribution of 

 species exhibited little difference between salinity 

 range and area of the Bay system but numerically 

 Old Tampa Bay, an area of relatively Low salinity 

 contained the greatest number of animals. The 

 importance of Tampa Bay as a nursery area for 

 species of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks com- 



prising the most valuable portions of the commer- 

 cial fisheries in the Gulf has not been stressed in 

 the past. This role now must be recognized be- 

 cause of acceleration of engineering projects in the 

 estuary that impair its value as a nursery ground. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



Thanks are expressed to Robert M. Ingle, 

 Florida State Board of Conservation, and his labo- 

 ratory staff for their cooperative spirit during this 

 and other studies of the Tampa Bay system. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Anderson, William W. 



1957. Early development, spawning, growth, and 

 occurrence of the silver mullet (Mugil curema) 

 along the south Atlantic coast of the United States. 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin, 

 vol. 57, No. 119, pp. 397-414. 



1958. Larval development, growth, and spawning 

 of striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) along the south 

 Atlantic coast of the United States. U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin, vol. 58, 

 No. 144, pp. 501-519. 



Dragovich, Alexander, and John A Kelly, Jr. 



1964. Ecological observations of macro-invertebrates 

 in Tampa Bay, Florida, 1961-1962. Bulletin of 

 Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean, in vol. 14, 

 No. 1, pp. 74-102. 



Eldred, Bonnie, Robert M. Ingle, Kenneth D. 



Woodburn, Robert F. Hutton, and Hazel Jones. 



1961. Biological observations on the commercial 

 shrimp, Penaeus duorarum Burkenroad, in Florida 

 waters. Florida State Board of Conservation, 

 Professional Papers Series No. 3, 139 pp. 



Fields, Hugh M. 



1962. Pompanos (Trachinotus spp.) of south At- 

 lantic coast of the United States. U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin, vol. 62, No. 

 207, pp. 189-222. 



Frisbie, Charles M. 



1961. Young black drum (Pogonias cromis) in tidal 

 fresh and brackish waters, especially in the Chesa- 

 peake and Delaware Bay areas. Maryland Depart- 

 ment of Research and Education, Chesapeake 

 Science, vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 94-100.- 

 Guest, William C, and Gordon Gunter. 



1958. The sea trout or weakfishes (Genus Cynoscwn) 

 of the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf States Marine Fisheries 

 Comm., Technical Summary No. 1, 40 pp. 

 Gunter, Gordon. 



1945. Studies on marine fishes of Texas. Publica- 

 tions of the Institute of Marine Sciences, vol. 1, 

 No. 1, pp. 190. 

 1950. Seasonal population changes and distributions 

 as related to salinity of certain invertebrates of the 

 Texas coast, including the commercial shrimp. 

 University Of Texas, Institute of Marine Science, 



Publications vol. I, No. 2, pp. 7-51. 



378 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



