172 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Marine Laboratory, University of Miami. — H. B. 

 Moore has a named collection of oceanic copepods, 

 chaetognathes, siphonophores, and tunicates from 

 the Florida current and Sargasso Sea. This collec- 

 tion is being extended to cover other groups and 

 should prove useful in identification of Gulf 

 material. 



It is apparent from the paucity of material 

 presented in this section that we know next to 

 nothing of the zooplankton of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The importance of improving our knowledge is 

 obvious. To mention only a few reasons : plankton 

 forms the major fraction of the food of many 

 fishes; it contributes largely to the food of bottom- 

 living organisms; it contributes to bottom sedi- 

 ments; it can provide a valuable indicator of water 

 movements; it may be used as an indicator of good 

 fishing areas; and it is sometimes the cause of 

 catastrophic mortality in fishes. 



Probably the first essential step in any plankton 

 investigation of the area must be the identification 

 of the species present. Here a little is known from 

 inshore waters and almost nothing from deep 

 water. Next, or in parallel with this, a survey is 

 needed to show the geographic distribution and 

 relative abundance of the various species through- 

 out the area. Wliile the more common species call 

 for particular study here, some of the rarer ones 

 may prove particularly suitable for use as "indi- 

 cator species." From there on, different types of 

 investigations will call for more detailed studies of 

 different aspects of the plankton. Fishery investi- 

 gations will be concerned with the distribution and 

 life histories of fishes and economically important 

 invertebrates whose larvae are planktonic at some 

 stage. It will also be concerned with the ecology 

 of those species, probably copepods in particular, 

 which are important as fish food. It will be con- 

 cerned in the water movements in the area and so 

 of indicator species useful in tracing these move- 

 ments. Finally, it will be concerned in the details 

 of the productivity of the various areas insofar as 

 these bear on fish production. To the hydrogra- 

 pher, also, this latter aspect is of importance. To 

 the geologist concerned with the formation of 

 sediments the shelled forms, such as Foraminifera 

 and pteropods and all aspects of their ecology, are 



of classic importance, but all organisms which 

 contribute to the sediments are significant, and 

 those which contribute organic matter may be of 

 particular importance to the petroleum geologist. 

 It is, in fact, clear that almost all aspects of 

 investigation of the waters of the Gulf will be 

 directly or indirectly concerned with plankton. 

 There are, at present, few investigators working 

 on plankton problems of the area. More are 

 needed, and the available supply is so small that 

 they will probably have to be specially trained. 

 It is to be hoped that adequately supported 

 projects may be forthcoming to carry on at least 

 some of the lines of work which have been 

 suggested. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



BURKENROAD, M. D. 



1932. Pteropoda from Louisiana. Nautilus 47 (2): 

 54-57. 

 Davis, C. C. 



1948. Notes on the plankton of Long Lake, Dade 

 County, Florida, with descriptions of two new 

 copepods. Quar. Jour. Florida Acad. Sci. 10 (2-3): 

 79-88. 

 1950. Observations on plankton taken in marine waters 

 off Florida in 1947 and 1948. Quar. Jour. Florida 

 Acad. Sci. 12 (2): 67-103. 

 Foster, E. 



1904. Notes on the free swimming copepods in the 

 waters in the vicinity of the Gulf Biologic Station. 

 Bull. Gulf Biol. Sta. 2: 69-79. 

 King, J. E. 



1950. A preliminary report on the plankton of the west 

 coast of Florida. Quar. Jour. Florida Acad. Sci. 

 12 (2): 109-137. 

 OsoRio Tafall, B. F. 



1942. Rotiferos planctonicos de Me.xico. Rev. Soc. 

 Mexicana Hist. Nat. 3 (1): 23-79. 

 RiLEV, G. A. 



1937. The significance of the Mississippi River drainage 

 for biological conditions. Jour. Mar. Res. 1 (1): 

 60-74. 



Riley, G. A. 



1938. Plankton studies. I. A preliminary investigation 

 of the plankton of the Tortugas region. Jour. Mar. 

 Res. 1 (4): 335-352. 



Smith, F. G. W.; Williams, R. H.; and Davis, C. C. 

 1950. An ecological survey of the subtropical inshore 

 waters adjacent to Miami. Ecology 31 (I): 119-146. 

 Tattersall, W. M. 



1926. Crustaceans of the orders Euphausiacea and 

 Mysidacea from the western Atlantic. Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. 69 (8): 1-31. 



