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Fishery Bulletin 101(2) 



Eighteen stations were located in creeks in four areas along 

 an approximately 100-km transect from Oeracoke Inlet to 

 the upper Pamlico River (Fig. 1). Four polyhaline stations 

 were located on Portsmouth Island (lower area). Water 

 depths there were largely controlled by semidiurnal lunar 

 tides (range usually <0.7 m, Giese et al., 1979); however, 

 on one occasion I observed that northerly winds (>37 km/h) 

 moved large quantities of water into these creeks. The mid- 

 lower area consisted of four stations on Cedar Island, which 

 exhibited less depth variation (dampened lunar tides) than 

 creeks on Portsmouth Island. Six creeks were sampled in 



the middle area: three each in Rose and Swanquarter 

 bays. Tidal influence was negligible here (Pietrafesa et al., 

 1986a). The creeks in the above three areas were largely 

 surrounded by Spartino and Juricus marsh grasses. The 

 upper area was represented by four creeks (oligohaline or 

 freshwater) surrounded by a mixture of woodlands and 

 patches of marsh. Water levels and currents here were 

 almost entirely controlled by winds or river flow (or both) 

 (Hobbie, 1970; Pietrafesa et al., 1986a). 



The Cape Fear River is more typical (compared to the 

 Pamlico Sound system) of United States East and Gulf 



