390 



Fishery Bulletin 97(2), 1999 



500 600 700 800 SKXJ 1 ,(X)0 1,1 tX) 1.200 1 .300 1,400 1 .500 1 .600 



Summer 

 n=89 



Y7/ 



^ 





PT] Young-of-the-year 



r^ Small juveniles 



I ) L-argc juveniles 



^B Subadults 



^ 



500 600 700 800 S*00 1 .fHK> l.UK) 1 .200 1 , JOG 1 .400 1 .500 1 .<SOO 



Total length (mm) 



Figure 4 



Length-frequency distribution of sandbar sharks by season and life history 

 stage. Seasons were defined as spring ( Mar-May i, summer (Jun-Augi, and 

 fall iSep-Oct). Young-of-the-year includes neonates. 



of the United States, one in the western Gulf of Mexico. 

 Bigelow and Schroeder ( 1948) captured one sandbar 

 shark that was 747 mm TL off the Texas coast, and 

 Springer (1960) took a few females with full-term 

 pups near the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

 Branstetter (1987) captured two neonates (67 and 69 

 cm TL) from Galveston Bay, Texas. Some evidence of 

 possible pupping areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico 

 was presented by C'lark and von Schmidt ( 1965), who 

 captured gravid females off Sarasota, Florida, and 

 Branstetter ( 1981 ), who reported on six gravid females 

 ftom a Shark Rodeo off Pensacola, P'lorida. However, 



no neonate or juvenile sharks have been previously 

 reported from the eastern Gulf of Mexico. 



Sandbar shark distribution in the northeastern 

 Gulf of Mexico was limited to the mouth of the 

 Apalachicola River, near St. Vincent Island; none 

 were caught in three additional areas sampled and 

 only two were captured in St. Andrew Sound. Al- 

 though all areas sampled vary in environmental pa- 

 rameters, none of the environmental conditions mea- 

 sured appeared to be associated with the distribu- 

 tion of juvenile sandbar sharks. It is possible that 

 sandbar sharks are attracted by the abundance of 



