FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 2 



Fla. Tagatz and Dudley (1961) studied the sea- 

 sonality of fishes in four coastal habitats near 

 Beaufort, N.C. In South Carolina, Bearden 

 (1961) published a field guide to the common 

 marine fishes, compiled an unpublished list 

 (1961) of marine fishes, and surveyed the elas- 

 mobranchs (Bearden, 1965). Lunz and 

 Schwartz (1970) published an 18-year study of 

 South Carolina coastal fishes. 



Anderson (1968) surveyed the fishes caught 

 by shrimp trawling from South Carolina to 

 northeastern Florida from 1931 to 1935. His 

 data are not tabulated here because many spe- 

 cies complexes were identified only to genus and 

 his collections were from regions other than the 

 estuary under study. Miller and Jorgenson 

 (1969) studied the seasonal abundance and 

 length frequencies of fishes collected by seining 

 at a beach habitat on St. Simons Island and at 

 two high marsh stations, one near Jekyll Island 

 and one near Meridian, Ga. They also listed the 

 fishes collected at a freshwater station in the 

 Altamaha River. Dahlberg and Heard (1969) 

 surveyed the common elasmobranchs of the 

 Georgia coast. Dahlberg and Odum (1970) 

 demonstrated the trawl diversity of Georgia es- 



tuarine fishes collected over 14 months. Dahl- 

 berg (1971a)' presented an annotated list of the 

 Georgia estuarine and coastal fishes. A section 

 of an unpublished ecological survey (Dahlberg, 

 1971b) ' was the basis for this report. 



LOCATION AND DESCRIPTIONS 

 OF HABITATS 



Composition and diversity of fish species in 

 nine aquatic habitats along the Georgia coast 

 are compared in this study. Salinity, tempera- 

 ture, and some aquatic plants and animals that 

 are characteristic of these habitats are given in 

 Table 1. 



= Dahlberg, M. D. 1971a. An annotated list of Geor- 

 gia coastal fishes. In An ecological survey of the coastal 

 region of Georgia, p. 255-300. Unpublished report to 

 National Park Service from University of Georgia In- 

 stitute of Natural Resources, Athens. 



' Dahlberg, M. D. 1971b. Habitat and diversity of 

 the fishes in North and South Newport Rivers and adja- 

 cent waters. In An ecological survey of the North and 

 South Newport Rivers and adjacent waters with respect 

 to possible effects of treated kraft mill effluent, p. 36-121. 

 Unpublished report to Georgia Water Quality Control 

 Board from University of Georgia Marine Institute, 

 Sapelo Island. 



Table 1. — Salinity, temperature, characteristic plants and animals of habitats studied, exclusive of freshwater 



creek habitat. 



Sapelo Island Btach 



Salinity— Range was 25.0 to 31.3%o except when flood waters reduced salinity. Measured at 6.8 to 7.7%,, along south end of beach and l5.2%o in surf 



near Big Hole at low tide in April 1970. 

 Plants— Sea oais (Uniola pankulata) are the nnost conspicuous plant on dunes along the beach. 

 Invertebrates seined or observed— Ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata), polychaete worm tubes (Onuphii microcephala, and Diopatra cupria), horseshoe crab 



(Limulus Polyphemus), hermit crabs (Clibanarius vittatus, and Pagurus longicarpus) , gastropods (Busycon carica, and Nassarius), sea cucumber (Thy- 



one hriareus), sand dollar (Mellita quinquiesperjorata) , isopod (Aegothoa oculata), white shrimp (Penaeus setijerus), shrimp (PalatmonetfS pugio) , 



blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), and squid (Lolliguncula brevis). 



Lower Reach of the Estuary - Trawl Stations 1-9, 12-14 



Salinity-Averages for these stations ranged from 21.4 to 28.9 %, from 1967 to 1970 (Dahlberg et al., 1971, see text footnote 3). 

 Temperature— Averages fc" the 12 stations ranged from 8.1° (January) to 31.2°C (August). 

 Plants— Cord gross (Spartina alternifiora) is the dominant plant. 



Invertebrates— Commercial species are white shrimp, brown shrimp (Penaeus aztecus), and pink shrimp (P. duorarum), American oyster (Crassostrea 

 virtinica), and blue crab. Other common species are too numerous to list here. 



High Marsh 



Salinlty-Generally 15 to 30^. 



Plants— Sfarfina alternifiora and /uncus roemerianus ore characteristic. 



Middle and Upper Reaches 



Salinity-Range was 11.7 to 29.0^ and average was 21.2%<, at lowermost station, trawl station 10. Range was 0.3 to 18.7^ and average was 5.3^ 

 at uppermost station (F). 



Temperafure-Ronge was 8,3° to 31.7°C and average was 20.9°C of the lowermost station, trawl station 10. Range was 9,0° to 30,0°C and average 



was 21.5°C at uppermost station, station F. 

 Aquatic plants— Sfar/ina alternifiora, Juncus roemerianus, toll cord gross (Spartina cynosuroides), marsh elder (Iva jrutescens), bulrush (Scripus robustus), 



primrose-willow (Jussiaea). 



324 



