Lindeman and Snyder: Nearshore hardbottom fishes of southeast Florida 



515 



third in overall abundance among grunts and were 

 represented by all life stages (Fig. 7). Tomtate, Hae- 

 mulon aurolineatum , ranked fourth on the basis of large 

 but infrequent influxes of early stages. Outside of these 

 pulses, tomtate was not an abundant or frequently oc- 

 curring species at any site during any life stage. 



Some newly settled grunts could not be positively 

 identified during visual sui-veys and were pooled as 

 Haemulon sp. (newly settled larvae of Anisotremus 

 are distinctive. Lindeman, 1997a). This group con- 

 tained epibenthic larvae of several species and 

 ranked tenth in abundance among all taxa (Table 2) 

 and fifth among haemulids ( Fig. 7 ). The largest com- 

 ponent of these unidentified schools was probably 

 sailors choice. This assumption is based on 1) the 

 greater relative abundances of sailors choice early 

 juveniles at all sites; 2) the close proximity of sailors 

 choice early juveniles to these newly settled Haemulon 

 sp.; and 3) collections of several newly settled Hae- 

 mulon sp. schools most commonly contained sailors 

 choice upon microscopic examination. 



Early stages of commercially valuable species oc- 

 curred infrequently during the surveys, although 

 recreationally important species were common. The 

 most abundant commercial family at the nearshore 

 hardbottom sites was the Lutjanidae (snappers). 

 Four snapper species, totaling 58 individuals, were 



recorded at all sites. Thirty-eight of these were lane 

 snapper, Lutjanus synagris. Thirty-three of these 

 were juveniles, the majority less than five cm. Five 

 newly settled individuals (<2 cm) were also recorded. 

 Ten yellowtail snapper, Ocyurus chrysurus, were re- 

 corded, nine small juveniles and one newly settled 

 individual. Unlike grunts, newly settled and small 

 juvenile snappers were not gregarious, occurring in- 

 dividually or in pairs near interfaces of hardbottom 

 structure and sand. Gray snapper. Lutjanus griseus, 

 and schoolmaster, Lutjanus apodus, occurred only 

 as older juveniles or adults and in low numbers (eight 

 and two individuals, respectively). 



Comparisons of interannual and seasonal patterns 

 of life stage abundances were limited by temporally 

 unbalanced sampling. Wind and wave conditions 

 from September through February made collection 

 of nearshore visual data in fall and winter erratic or 

 impossible. Several hurricanes during July and Au- 

 gust of 1995 produced wave and turbidity conditions 

 that interrupted summer sampling as well. Other 

 phenomena, including high winds and discharges of 

 turbid water from the Jupiter Inlet, also precluded 

 sampling for extended intervals. Nonetheless, 

 samples were obtained from Coral Cove (the control 

 site) for three consecutive years for the months of 

 April and June. Comparisons of both numbers of spe- 



