SILVER MULLET 

 5H-VES MULLET 

 STRIPED MULLET 



SfOTTEO SE»' 



Figure 3. — Occurrence of immature commercial species of 

 fish and crustaceans by season and area, Tampa Bay, 

 Fla., December 1961-November 1962. 



Gunter and Christmas (1960) and Reintjes (1961) 

 observed that menhaden spawn at sea and sub- 

 sequently move as larvae into estuaries which 

 serve as nursery areas for further development. 

 Collections in Tampa Bay by our staff and by 

 Springer and Woodburn (1960) showed that 

 Tampa Bay is a rearing area for two species of 

 menhaden: B. patronus and B. smithi. B. smithi 

 was more abundant and more widely distributed 

 in our samples than B. patronus; the reverse of 

 their occurrence in Gulf catches. Suttkus (1958) 

 stated that B. smithi occurs in the eastern Gulf 

 and that B. patronus overlaps B. smithi in the 

 northeastern Gulf at Cedar Keys, Fla. Tabb 

 and Manning (1960) reported only one species, 

 B. smithi, from Florida Bay in the southern portion 

 of the State. These findings suggest that normally 

 B. smithi would be more abundant than B. patronus 

 in central Florida or the Tampa Bay area. 



Mullet ranked third in pounds landed in the 

 Gulf and second both in Tampa Bay and on the 

 Florida west coast. Heavy dependence upon the 

 estuary was exhibited in that three species, Mitgil 

 cephahis, M. trichodon, and M. curema, were 

 found in immature and adult stages. The striped 

 mullet, At. cephabis, is dominant in Bay catches 

 (Rosen and Ellis, 1958). 



The blue crab, CaUinectes sapidus, besides being 

 prominent in Gulf fisheries, is harvested commer- 

 cially in Tampa Bay. Also, it is the object of 



a large sport fishery. The species forms the most 

 rapidly expanding fishery in Florida (Rosen and 

 Robinson, 1960). Approximately 50 percent of 

 the reported Tampa Bay landings (table 1) were 

 actually caught in the Bay, and the remaining 

 50 percent were caught in Citrus County to the 

 north of Tampa Bay and adjacent to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



C. sapidus was the dominant portunid in collec- 

 tions of metamorphosed and identifiable specimens. 

 Numerous portunid zoeae and megalops also were 

 taken. We were unable to make positive species 

 identification at these stages and therefore cannot 

 estimate the proportion of C. sapidus in the 

 collections. Sandoz and Rogers (1944) stated that 

 a salinity range of 23-30% o is ideal for hatching 

 blue crabs. Thus, from a salinity standpoint, 

 the Bay appears to offer a favorable environment 

 for hatching and development of blue crabs. 

 This fact and the presence of adult blue crabs as 

 well as portunid larvae led us to believe that the 

 blue crab is reared within the confines of Tampa 

 Bay. In addition to mature adults, the young 

 identifiable metamorphosed forms (50-mm. cara- 

 pace width) which inhabit the Bay are most 

 abundant in winter. 



The American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is 

 an estuarine resident and supports relatively 

 small but growing commercial and sport fisheries 

 in Tampa Bay. The actual harvest in the Bay is 

 probably many times larger than the reported 

 harvest (table 1). A portion of the beds is public, 

 and fleets of small, privately owned boats tong for 

 oysters there. In recent years, interest has been 

 generated toward the possibility of increasing the 

 numbers and sizes of the beds in Tampa Bay. 

 Decreased oyster production in Chesapeake Bay 

 has brought some oystermen into Florida from 

 that area. 



Of the 19 species of fish and crustaceans (fig. 3), 

 13 were taken in all four sections of Tampa Bay. 

 This indicates that all of the Bay is used as a 

 nursery area. Eighteen species were taken in the 

 lower, high salinity portion of the Bay (Area I), 

 13 in the central portion (Area II), 15 in Old 

 Tampa Bay where lowered salinities prevail 

 (Area III), and 15 in Hillsborough Bay (Area IV), 

 also an area of reduced salinity. The com- 

 mercially important species of fish, shrimp, and 

 crabs are euryhaline and, as expected, were dis- 

 tributed throughout the Bay system. The differ- 



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U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



