Table 5. — Size by season of commercial species of fish and crustaceans in Hillsborough Bay — Area IV, December 1961- 



November 1962 



Table 6. — Numbers of immature specimens of fish and 

 crustaceans taken in sampling gear by month, December 

 1961-November 1962, Tampa Bay, Fla. 



through April 1962, 71,000 pounds of bait shrimp 

 were caught in this fishery (Saloman, 1965). 



Eldred et al. (1961) described recruitment of 

 postlarval P. duorarum into Tampa Bay and a 

 movement of larger shrimp from the Bay to 

 offshore waters. Their observations on migration 

 and our collections of larvae suggest that at least 

 part of the Gulf shrimp fishery for that species 

 depends upon populations developed in Tampa 

 Bay. 



Menhaden ranks first in size of catch and next 

 to shrimp in value for all species landed in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. The fishery in the Gulf depends 

 upon catches of Brevoortia patronus (Gunter and 

 Christmas, 1960). B. smithi and B. gunteri have 

 been found in the Gulf, and probably comprise a 

 very small fraction of the commercial catch. 



There is no menhaden fishery in Tampa Bay, 

 and landings of menhaden on the Florida west 

 coast are minor in relation to total Gulf landings. 



IMMATURE SPECIES IN TAMPA BAY 



375 



