FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70. NO. 2 



Sphyraenidae - barracudas 



Young of two species of barracudas occurred 

 in the beach habitat. One guaguanche (Sphy- 

 raena guachancho) was collected at Sapelo 

 Beach in October 1967. Three southern sennets 

 (S. piciidilla) were collected at St. Simons Island 

 Beach in May (Miller and Jorgenson, 1969). 



Uranoscopidae - stargazers 



The southern stargazer (Astroscopus y-grae- 

 cum) was occasionally trawled in the lower and 

 middle reaches. Young were seined along the 

 beach and in the upper and middle reaches at 

 salinities as low as 12.5%o. 



Blennidae - combtooth blennies 



Three species of blennies (Table 2) are com- 

 monly associated with oyster reefs or patches 

 of oyster shells in the lower reaches of the es- 

 tuary. The feather blenny (Hypsoblennitis 

 hentzi) was occasionally trawled in the lower 

 and middle reaches and one crested blenny (Hy- 

 pleurochilus geminatus) was trawled in the low- 

 er reach. All three species occasionally occurred 

 along the beach (Miller and Jorgenson, 1969) 

 generally in association with shell or debris. 



My data suggest that the feather blenny oc- 

 curred primarily in deep water in the cold 

 months and that they migrated to the oyster 

 reefs in the warm months where they rear their 

 eggs inside of gaping oyster shells. Three male 

 striped blennies (Chasmodes bosquianus) , 58 to 

 64 mm, were rearing embryos inside of gaping 

 oyster shells on 24 April 1970 and 19 May 1970 

 when water temperature was 27° to 27.5°C. 



Eleotridae - sleepers 



The fat sleeper {Doi^mitator maculatus) was 

 collected only in the low-salinity tidal pools from 

 May through November in 1967. 



Gobiidae - gobies 



The lyre goby {Evorthodus lyriciis) was col- 

 lected once in the high-salinity pools previous to 



my collections. All four species of Gohioyielliis 

 were rarely encountered. The darter goby (G. 

 boleosoma) was collected three times in the high- 

 salinity tidal pools and was rarely found in the 

 beach or high marsh habitats. Only five spec- 

 imens of the sharptail goby (G. hastatus) were 

 collected — three in trawls, one in the Marine In- 

 stitute's boat basin, and one in the high-salinity 

 pools. This goby was found only in September 

 1967 and November 1969. 



The freshwater goby (G. shufeldti) occurred 

 in the low-salinity tidal pools from May 1967 to 

 February 1968. This goby was also reported 

 in the high-salinity waters of St. Simons Beach 

 and in fresh water of Altamaha River (Miller 

 and Jorgenson, 1969). 



The emerald goby (G. smaragdus) and green 

 goby (Micro gobius thalassinus) are two little- 

 known species that were collected only in the 

 high-salinity tidal pools. The former occurred 

 there only in September and November and the 

 latter only in May and November. 



Two species of scaleless gobies {Gobiosoma) 

 were most abundant in oyster reefs and patches 

 of oyster shells where they laid their eggs inside 

 gaping oyster shells during the warm months. 

 The naked goby (G. bosci) occurred in six hab- 

 itats in addition to oyster reefs and was the 

 most abundant goby in the estuary. It was col- 

 lected by hand in gaping oyster shells and by 

 seining, and three were trawled. The salinity 

 range was from fresh water to 30.8%c.. Only 

 juveniles (18-22 mm) were found at salinities 

 of less than 2%c. 



The seaboard goby {Gobiosoma ginsburgi) 

 was not collected at regular stations except for 

 specimens from the lower reach that were taken 

 from the stomachs of hakes ( Urophycis) . Males 

 were found rearing embryos inside of gaping 

 oyster shells. On 4 March 1969, a large number 

 of seaboard gobies and a few naked gobies were 

 found in burrows in an eroding clay bank at 

 Sapelo Island Beach. 



Trichiuridae - cutlassfishes 



The Atlantic cutlassfish (Trichiurus lepturus) 

 was occasionally trawled throughout the year in 

 the lower reach but was rare along the beach. 



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