pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides (L.), which comprised 45 percent and 

 67 percent of the fish biomass in the Phillips Island and Bogue 

 Sound beds, respectively. 



Changes in total body caloric content were probably related to 

 developmental stages and changes in diet. Adult fish often had 

 significantly higher weight-specific caloric contents than juvenile 

 fish. Monthly or seasonal variations in caloric content of the 

 organic matter of pinfish had little influence on the caloric content 

 within the various sizes of pinfish. 



There was a significant correlation between fish biomass, temperature, 

 and Zostera biomass. Fish biomass was higher when temperature and 

 grass biomass were at a maximum. In general, water depth over the 

 beds had little effect on the standing crop of fish within the bed, 

 but cooler waters which occurred at night, darkness, or both, had a 

 large effect. (A. A.) 



Keywords: eelgrass, fish communities, estuaries, biomass. North Carolina 



IV-F-4 



Adams, S.M. 1976. The ecology of eelgrass, Zostera marina (L.), fish 



communities, functional analysis. Journal of Experimental Marine 



Biology and Ecology 22:293-311. 



Consumption, production, and respiration of fish communities utilizing 

 two eelgrass beds in a shallow estuarine system near Beaufort, 

 North Carolina, have been estimated for 1971-1972: annual production 

 was 21.7 kcal/m^ in each bed with pinfish accounting for 45 and 68 per- 

 cent of the production in the Phillips Island and Bogue Sound beds, 

 respectively. Annual community respiration was 57.9 and 69.7 kcal/m^ 

 in the two beds with pinfish accounting for 62.6 and 26.7 percent of 

 the total in the Bogue Sound and Phillips Island beds, respectively. 

 Estimation of the annual food energy consumed by the eelgrass fish 

 community using the Winberg and daily ration methods gave values 

 within 6 percent of each other. 



Energy turnover was high (2.8), and the efficiency of energy 

 dissipation low for the two eelgrass fish communities, suggesting 

 that the resident fish populations were adapted to the temperature 

 extremes within the bed. High ecological efficiencies of 0,24 and 

 0.23 and the high overall efficiency of the eelgrass system 

 (production/solar radiation) of 0.0051 and 0.0086 percent indicate 

 that the eelgrass beds are efficient systems for converting consumed 

 energy and solar radiation into fish. (A. A.) 



Keywords: eelgrass, fish communities, productivity, estuarine system, 

 pinfish, North Carolina 



201 



