were taken everywhere in October, with a few reappearing in December. A few subadult (70- 

 88 mm) juveniles were taken only in Fearman in April. 



Penaeus aztecus. Brown shrimp are uncommon in the low salinities of the refuge (Hebert 1968), 

 but a few (25) small juveniles (17-32 mm) were taken in Fearman and Bob's in April. 



Callinectes sapidus. Blue crabs appeared over most of the area; larger individuals predominated 

 in September, October, and April and newly metamorphosed juveniles (7-30 mm) from November 

 through February. Catches of juveniles were limited in Toms. 



Paralichthys lethostigma. Only one southern flounder was taken in Toms, but only 36 individuals 

 were taken altogether. Newly transformed juveniles (12-37 mm) appeared from December 

 through February. 



Micropogonias undulatus. Croaker were widespread with young-of-the-year (15-50 mm) appearing 

 everywhere from December through April. Somewhat fewer were taken early in Bob's, but by 

 April more were taken there than in the other two areas combined. 



Brevoortia patronus. Juvenile menhaden (22-41 mm) appeared first in numbers in Fearman in 

 December, became common in Toms in January, but were delayed until February in Bob's. 



Miscellaneous species. A total of 18 other species were taken in very small numbers (Table 

 2). Of these, four were taken only in Fearman, five only in Bob's, and two only in Toms. 

 Three were taken in all areas, and two were common to Fearman and each of the other two 

 lakes. 



DISCUSSION 



The initial hypothesis that seemed most reasonable was that Fearman Lake would be the closest 

 to the spawning grounds of most species and would receive the most juveniles the earliest. We 

 specifically decided to trawl on the northern shore of Fearman Lake nearest to Bob's so that, if 

 species were lacking, it would be because the weir served as an impediment, and not because the 

 animals were not in the area. This hypothesis is suggested by studies on weired versus unweired 

 areas by Herke and his students (Herke et al. 1987), who found evidence of delayed migration in 

 weired areas. 



Several types of animals followed this pattern. Menhaden appeared in Fearman early, but 

 reached Toms before Bob's, and by April seemed to diminish in Fearman. Spot fit this pattern, 

 and never became very common in Bob's. Other species, however, did not follow the pattern. 

 Croaker appeared first in Fearman, and then showed no clear-cut preference for any locale. Crabs 

 seemed to invade Bob's earliest, and never became as common in Toms. Grass shrimp were only 

 common in Bob's. The delaying effect of the weir may have been counter- balanced by the delay 

 caused by the longer distance up Toms Bayou to Toms Lake, but our data do not show a 

 consistent delaying effect of the weir. 



Other species may have been more affected by water depth than by delay in recruitment. Spot 

 seem to prefer very shallow water when small, and do not normally overlap in depth distribution 

 with croaker. This suggests that the distribution of spot in the lakes may be due to the lower 

 average water levels in Toms. Nevertheless, Weaver and Holloway (1974) found more spot in a 



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