grass stems per unit area, while high marsh is considerably more complex, 

 with dense small stems providing cover for prey and reducing successful 

 fish hunting. The population of Melampus in low marsh within Great 

 Sippewissett salt marsh consists mainly of large snails but this size 

 is rare in high marsh. The size distribution is inverse for Orchestia , 

 with large amphipods more abundant in high marsh. The construction of 

 fences excluding Fundulus from the marsh surface led to low marsh 

 size distributions of Melampus and Orchestia resembling those of high 

 marsh, in agreement with the laboratory results. Killifish predation 

 seems to be an important factor regulating the abundance and size 

 distribution of the two prey species in the two marsh habitats. (A. A.) 



Keywords: salt marshes, killifishes, food preference 



IV-E-37 



Darnell, R.M., and T.E. Wissing. 1965. Nitrogen turnover and food relation- 

 ships of the pinfish Lagodon rhomboides in a North Carolina estuary. 

 Pages 81-110 vn. F-J- Vernberg, ed.. Physiological ecology of estuarine 

 organisms. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia. 



Estuarine systems are widely recognized as areas of high fertility 

 and as feeding and nursery areas for a variety of coastal fishes and 

 invertebrates. It has been suggested that most of the nutrients passing 

 to the consumer species do so through the medium of detrital food 

 chains. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, knowledge of the quanti- 

 tative dynamics of nutrient turnover by individual detritus feeding 

 species is limited. To some extent, the heart of this estuarine problem 

 has been ignored. This study attempts to correct that condition through 

 a discussion of nitrogen turnover in pinfish feeding on detrital matter 

 and other nutrients trapped on the blades of eelgrass. (J.B.) 



Keywords: nitrogen turnover, food relationships, pinfish, estuaries. 

 North Carolina 



F. Seagrass Fauna Studies 



IV-F-1 



Wood, E.J., W.E. Odum, and J.C. Zieman. 1969. Influence of sea grasses 



on the productivity of coastal lagoons. Pages 495-502 2£ A.A. Castanares, 

 ed.. Coastal lagoons, symposium. Universidad National Autonoma de 

 Mexico, Cuidad Universidad. 



Sea grasses in coastal lagoons act in several ways to control or modify 

 the ecosystem: 1) They act as food for a yery limited number of organisms 

 such as the parrotfishes, surgeon fishes, Australian garfishes, the Queen 



198 



