Table 44. Common diurnal and 

 nocturnal fish fauna 

 of the Florida Keys 

 (adapted from Stark 

 1968 and Bailey et al. 

 1970). 



of reef fish, most of which are com- 

 mon to the Florida reefs. Kissling 

 (1977) has recorded the relative 

 abundance for approximately 200 



species of fish fauna associated 

 with a variety of habitats from the 

 lower Key nearshore area to the 22 m 

 (72 ft) depth outside the outer 

 reefs. Approximately 200 species of 

 the lower Keys reef fish fauna have 

 been recorded as part of the sup- 

 porting documentation for the draft 

 environmental impact statement pre- 

 pared on the Loue Key National 

 Marine Sanctuary (Antonius 1980). 

 A recent examination of the Dry Tor- 

 tugas ichthyofauna using a visual 

 species per unit time random count 

 technique reports over 150 species 

 with a six week sampling effort 

 (Thompson and Schmidt 1977). This 

 technique was again used in the John 

 Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park 

 showing the upper Keys reef fish 

 fauna as more diverse than the Dry 

 Tortugas (Jones and Thompson 1978). 

 Zischke (1973) and Springer and 

 McErlean (1962) report on the habi- 

 tat zonation and seasonality of the 

 nearshore fish fauna. The shallow 

 nearshore habitats provide a nursery 

 ground for a number of reef and 

 offshore fish. Of the 106 species 

 reported (greatest speciation and 

 concentration in summer and fall) 

 approximately a third are repre- 

 sented only by young (Springer and 

 McErlean 1962). Fish characteristic 

 of shoreline areas and canals (natu- 

 ral and man-made) have been surveyed 

 by Chesher (1974) and Getter et al. 

 (1981). Table 45 lists 10 species 

 of Florida Keys fishes that are en- 

 dangered, threatened, or of special 

 concern (Gilbert 1978). 



9.34 AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES 



A total of 41 species and 3 

 subspecies of amphibians and rep- 

 tiles are recorded from the Florida 

 Keys (Carr and Goin 1969, Conant 

 1975) (Table 46). The decreasing 

 availability of terrestrial habitats 

 and lack of freshwater are believed 

 to be limiting factors in amphibian 



213 



