SEASONAL COMPOSITION AND ABUNDANCE OF DECAPOD AND 



STOMATOPOD CRUSTACEANS FROM COASTAL HABITATS, 



SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES' 



Elizabehh L. Wenner and Charles A. Wenner^ 



ABSTRACT 



Decapod and stomatopod crustaceans were collected by trawl during seasonal cruises from Cape Fear, 

 North Carolina to Cape Canaveral, Florida at depths from 4 to 20 m. A total of 60 species of decapod 

 and 3 species of stomatopod crustaceans were collected. Fifteen species accounted for 95% of the total 

 number of individuals and 96% of the total biomass: the portimid crabs Portunus gihbesii, P. spinimanus, 

 Ovalipes stephejisoni, 0. ocellat-us, Callinectes similis, C. sapidus, and Arenaeus cribraritis; the calap- 

 pid crab Hepatus ephelitius; the majid crab Libinia emarginata; the penaeid shrimps Penaeus setiferus, 

 P. aztecus, P. duorarum, and Trachypenaeus constrictus; and the squillid stomatopods Squilla empusa 

 and S. neglecta. 



Season was an important factor affecting the number of individuals and species collected during the 

 study. No consistent changes in number of species, total number of individuals, and mean total weight 

 occurred with latitude. Cluster analysis indicated season and latitude were important factors determin- 

 ing species assemblages in the coastal zone. Although changes in species composition occur seasonally, 

 most species groups delineated by cluster analysis were not consistently collected nor restricted to par- 

 ticular site groups. A seasonally ubiquitous faunal assemblage in the coastal zone was composed of 

 numerically dominant species. Those assemblages which were characterized as being restricted to site 

 groups consisted of relatively rare species or those which were associated with hard-bottom habitat. 



Integrated community analyses of the decapod Crus- 

 tacea of the CaroHnean shelf province, extending 

 from Cape Fear, NC to Cape Canaveral, FL were 

 completed by Wenner and Read (1981, 1982). Their 

 studies, which encompassed a broad latitudinal and 

 bathymetric range, described assemblages of deca- 

 pod Crustacea from the continental shelf of the 

 southeastern United States in terms of depth, sea- 

 son, and latitude and provided estimates of decapod 

 abundance relative to certain biological and physical 

 factors. Although Wenner and Read (1981, 1982) 

 sampled the continental shelf habitats described by 

 Struhsaker (1969), their effort in coastal habitats 

 was limited to depths of 9-18 m. 



The coastal zone, defined by Struhsaker (1969) as 

 extending from the sounds and estuaries out to 

 depths of 18 m, has been extensively surveyed since 

 the 1930's (Keiser 1977); however, most of the 

 resulting reports described the composition and 

 magnitude of the incidental catch of finfishes by 

 shrimp trawlers (see Keiser 1977 for literature sur- 



'Contribution No. 259 from the South Carolina Marine Resources 

 Center. 



^South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, 

 Marine Resources Research Institute, P.O. Box 12559, Charles- 

 ton, SC 29412. 



Manuscript accepted October 1988. 

 Fishery Bulletin. U.S. 87:155-176. 



vey). Information on invertebrates, and more spe- 

 cifically the noncommercially important species of 

 decapod and stomatopod crustaceans, has been 

 limited. Hoese (1973) reported on the seasonal dis- 

 tribution of decapod and stomatopod species col- 

 lected on the central Georgia coastal zone and Doboy 

 Sound. Keiser (1977) identified 20 species of deca- 

 pod and stomatopod crustaceans in a study of the 

 incidental catch of the South Carolina shrimp fish- 

 ery. Anderson et al. (1977) provided seasonal infor- 

 mation on 12 species of decapod and stomatopod 

 crustaceans collected during a survey of the macro- 

 fauna in the surf zone off Folly Beach, SC. The pres- 

 ent paper describes the assemblages of decapod and 

 stomatopod crustaceans in coastal habitats off the 

 southeastern United States in terms of seasonal and 

 latitudinal variations and characterizes the impor- 

 tant species in terms of their abundance, biomass, 

 size composition, and distribution. 



METHODS AND MATERIALS 



Data Collection 



Samples of decapod and stomatopod Crustacea 

 were collected during seasonal cruises from Cape 

 Fear, NC Qat. 33.9°N) to Cape Canaveral, FL Oat. 



155 



