FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70. NO. 2 



ORDER GOBIESOCIFORMES 



Gobiesocidae - dingfishes 



The habitats of the small skilletfish (Gobiesox 

 strumosiis) are similar to those of toadfish. It 

 is usually associated with oyster reefs or bottoms 

 that provide cover, especially shell bottoms. The 

 skilletfish occurred in small numbers in the 

 lower and middle reaches throughout the 

 year. 



ORDER LOPHIFORMES 



Antennariidae - frogfishes 



Two species of frogfishes (Table 2) collected 

 at St. Simons Beach (Miller and Jorgenson, 

 1969) are stragglers from offshore. The sargas- 

 sumfish {Histrio histrio) is of ten associated with 

 sargassum weed, which drifts onto Sapelo Beach. 



ORDER GADIFORMES 



Gadidae - codfishes 



The southern hake (Urophycis floridanus) 

 and spotted hake {U. regius) were common in 

 the trawl collections in the lower and middle 

 reaches from January to May. These southern 

 representatives of a group that inhabit cold 

 water first entered the estuary when the tem- 

 perature was 8.2° to 10.1°C in January, and they 

 remained until it rose to 24.3° to 24.6°C. Sa- 

 linity and temperature ranges were 12.4 to 30.6/^c 

 and 9.0° to 24.6°C for U. floridanus, and 14.5 to 

 Sl.V/cc and 8.2° to 24.3°C for U. regius. Miller 

 and Jorgenson (1969) also reported four U. 

 regius from St. Simons Beach. 



Ophidiidae - cusk-eels 



This family is represented by one species, the 

 striped cusk-eel (Rissola marginata) , in Georgia 

 estuaries. Small numbers of this burrowing spe- 

 cies were collected throughout the year by trawl- 

 ing in the lower and middle reaches at salinities 

 of 11.6 to 32.6/^f and temperatures of 8.0° to 

 30.0°C. 



ORDER ATHERINIFORMES 



Belonidae - needlefishes 



Several needlefishes range to the Georgia 

 coast, but only the Atlantic needlefish {Strongy- 

 lura marina) is common in Georgia estuaries. 

 It is occasionally seen around docks in the lower 

 and middle reaches and specimens were seined 

 at the beach, high marsh, and middle reach ha- 

 bitats. Specimens (52-315 mm) were collected 

 from May to October at 22.9° to 30.9 °C. 



Cyprinodonidae - killifishes 



These small fishes are found almost entirely 

 in shallowwater habitats. The euryhaline 

 sheepshead minnow {Cyprinodon variegatus) 

 was present throughout the year at salinity and 

 temperature ranges of 0.8 to 34.0^f and 7.9° to 

 31.9°C in the tidal pools, beach, high marsh, and 

 tidal canal habitats. 



The golden topminnow (Fundulu^ chrysotu^) 

 was collected at freshwater stations 3 and 5. 



The marsh killifish (F. confluentus) occurred 

 at freshwater station 1 and at Crossroads but 

 was common only at an artesian well and in the 

 low-salinity tidal pool where it occurred through- 

 out the year. Recorded salinity and temperature 

 ranges were to 24.4^f and 7.8° to 29.3°C. 



The mummichog (F. heterocUtus) occurred 

 at all the habitats except the freshwater habitat. 

 Although it is a shallowwater species, two col- 

 lections were made at trawl stations (10 and 12) 

 that were close to the marsh. The mummichog 

 was common at most seine stations but was rare 

 along the beach. Recorded salinity and temper- 

 ature ranges were to 34%. and 7.8° to 32.2 °C. 



The southernmost record of the spotfin killi- 

 fish {F. luciae) was reported by Miller and Jor- 

 genson (1969). 



The striped killifish (F. majalis) was pre- 

 sent at the Sapelo Beach throughout the year, 

 but was scarce during the coldest months. It 

 was also common in the high marsh and high- 

 salinity tidal pools, and uncommon in the tidal 

 ditch. The striped killifish was not taken at sand 

 bars in the middle reach although it was col- 



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