MODDE and ROSS: SEASONALITY OF nSHES OCCUPYING A SURF ZONE HABITAT 



temperature, salinity, tide level, wave height, 

 beach slope, wind speed, and wind direction. The 

 latter two parameters represented means of the 

 4-wk period preceding each collection. Wind direc- 

 tion and velocity data were recorded at Keesler Air 

 Force Base on the adjacent mainland. Tide level 

 data were entered as the difference from mean low 

 water and were from tide tables. Because of the 

 absence of data regarding several environmental 

 parameters, collections made during 1975 were 

 not included in the regression analysis. 



RESULTS 



Annual and Seasonal Occurrence 



During the 32-mo study period, 154,469 fishes, 

 representing 14 orders, 42 families, and 76 species, 

 were collected (Table 2). These were primarily late 

 larvae and early juveniles, and only 1.17c exceeded 

 50 mm SL. The major families represented in the 

 surf zone, in both percent occurrence and numbers 

 collected, were the Engraulidae, Clupeidae, 



Table 2. — Total number of fishes collected from the surf zone of Horn Island, Miss., between April 1975 

 and November 1977, and percentage frequency of species occurrence in the collections. 



913 



