710 



Fishery Bulletin 101(3) 



larval stages. This adaptation would allow spotted seatrout 

 to spawn over a wide range of salinities. 



Future monitoring of spotted seatrout larval abundances 

 to evaluate restoration activities would probably require 

 numerous samples per station because of the high degree 

 of variability as shown by the present study. Therefore, it 

 would seem prudent to continue monitoring spatial spawn- 

 ing habits from larval collections, but to develop a juvenile 

 abundance index to monitor the success of restoration in 

 the Everglades, as well. 



Acknowledgments 



Sincere appreciation is extended to Al Crosby who was 

 field party chief and processed numerous samples. I am 

 also indebted to other Beaufort Laboratory staff members, 

 notably Robin Cheshire, Peter Crumley, Mike Greene, 

 Donald Hoss, Michael Johnson, and Michael Lacroix for 

 their able assistance in the field; Robin Cheshire, Curtis 

 Lewis, and Harvey Walsh for graphics; James Waters for 

 computer programming; and Dean Ahrenholz, Patti Mar- 

 raro Joe Smith and an anonymous reviewer for valuable 

 comments in their review of the manuscript. The staff of 



the Polish Sorting and Identification Center processed 

 many of the ichthyoplankton samples. This study was sup- 

 ported through joint funding from the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Ocean Program 

 and National Marine Fisheries Service base funds to the 

 Beaufort Laboratory. 



Literature cited 



Chester, A. J., and G. W. Thayer. 



1990. Distribution of spotted seatrout {Cynoscion nebu- 

 losus) and gray snapper {Lutjanus griseus) juveniles in 

 seagrass habitats of western Florida Bay. Bull. Mar. Sci. 

 46:345-357. 

 Cyr, H., J. A. Downing, S. Lalonde, S. B. Baines, and M. L. Price. 

 1992. Sampling lai-\'al fish: choice of sample number and 

 size. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 121:356-368. 

 Fourqurean, J. W., and M. B. Robblee. 



1999. Florida Bay: a history of recent ecological changes. 

 Estuaries 22:345-357. 

 Hettler, W. F., Jr. 



1989. Food habits of juveniles of spotted seatrout and 

 gray snapper in western Florida Bay. Bull. Mar. Sci. 44: 

 152-165. 



