832 



Fishery Bulletin 88(4), 1990 



upon for shelter and food. Whether the early and re- 

 cent landings can be correlated with seagrass abun- 

 dance remains unknown, for no early records of sea- 

 grass abundance exist prior to and following the 

 wasting disease of the 1930s (Orth and Moore 1981, 

 Short et al. 1987). To date, the beds have seemingly 

 not increased (G. Thayer, NMFS Beaufort Lab., pers. 

 commun., Jan. 1990). It would have been beneficial to 

 know whether the early-life-history stages that depend 

 on vegetation for food and protection were or are in- 

 creasing in relation to seagrass incidence and just how 

 dependent they are on that habitat for their growth 

 and survival. 



Acknowledgments 



Thanks are extended to Dr. D. Lindquist, UNC-Wil- 

 mington, for access to specimens collected by Ogburn; 

 to G. Ogburn for comments on her length-weight 

 calculations; to K. Hartel of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology' (Harvard) for a search of possible speci- 

 mens reported by Bigelow; and to taxidermists Cher- 

 finski and Swanson of NC, and Bill Alden Reese Tax- 

 idermy, FL, for a search of their records for data on 

 extremely large sheepshead. The International Game 

 Fish Association, Fort Lauderdale, FL provided infor- 

 mation on the world-record recognized sheepshead 

 from Louisiana. C.R. Robins, Univ. Miami-RSMAS 

 reviewed the manuscript and commented on large 

 specimens. C. Manooch, NMFS Beaufort Lab., also 

 reviewed the manuscript and provided helpful com- 

 ments on age interpretation. D. Tootle and R. Finer 

 of N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Morehead City, 

 provided catch landings for years 1962-89, while 

 Susanne Guthrie supplied size data for fish caught in 

 North Carolina tournaments. G. Thayer, NOAA- 

 NMFS, Beaufort, NC gave freely of his historical 

 knowledge about seagrass abundances in NC. R. 

 Barnes and H. Page of IMS produced the figures. 

 B. Bright typed the manuscript. 



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