were omitted because the areas studied 

 have been highly modified and because data 

 from many habitats were pooled in the 

 final presentation. 



All of the bays reviewed in our sum- 

 maries are fringed by dense growths of red 

 mangroves and all contain small mangrove 

 islets. Carter et al. (1973), in their 

 studies of Fahkahatchee and Fahka Union 

 bays, estimated that 57% to 80% of the 

 total energy budget of these two bays is 

 supported by exports of particulate and 

 dissolved organic matter from the man- 

 groves within the bays and inflowing tidal 

 streams. Lugo et al. (1980) estimated 

 that the mangroves surrounding Rookery Bay 

 provide 32% of the energy base of the 

 heterotrophic community found in the bay. 



Salinities in these bays tend to be 

 higher than in the tidal streams and 

 rivers and the fish assemblages reflect 

 both this feature and the added habitat 

 dimension of sea grass and macro algae 

 beds. Truly freshwater species are rare 

 in these communities and a proportionally 

 greater percentage of marine visitors is 

 present. The dominant fish families of 

 the benthic habitat include drums 

 (Sci aenidae), porgys (Sparidae), grunts 

 (Pomadasyidae), mojarras (Gerreidae), 

 snappers (Lutjanidae), and mullet (Mugili- 

 dae). Other familes with sizeable contri- 

 butions to the benthic fauna include pipe- 

 fishes (Syngnathidae), flounder (Bothi- 

 dae), sole (Soleidae), searobins (Trigli- 

 dae), and toadfishes (Batrachoididae). 



Numerically abundant fishes of the 

 mid and upper waters include anchovies 

 (Engraul idae), herrings (Clupeidae) and 

 needlefishes (Belonidae). At all loca- 

 tions studied, the benthic fauna was domi- 

 nated by the pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides , 

 the silver perch, Bairdiella chrysura , the 

 pigfish, Orthopristis chrysoptera. and the 

 mojarras, Euci nostomus gula and E. 

 argenteus. The most common midwater and 

 surface species include the two anchovies, 

 Anchoa mitchilli and A_. hepsetus , and two 

 clupeids, Brevoortia smithi and Harengula 

 pensacol ae . The total number of species 

 recorded in the individual studies ranged 

 from 47 to 89; a total of 117 species was 



collected in these mangrove-fringed bays 

 and lagoons (Appendix B). 



In none of these studies were the 

 fishes specifically utilizing the fringing 

 mangrove habitat enumerated separately 

 from those collected in the bay as a 

 whole. The collections were most often at 

 open water stations easily sampled by 

 otter trawl. Carter et al. (1973) had two 

 shore seine stations adjacent to mangroves 

 but the data were pooled for publication. 

 Of the four stations in Rookery Bay sam- 

 pled by Yokel (1975a), one was immediately 

 adjacent to the fringing mangrove shore- 

 line and had moderate amounts of sea 

 grasses. 



The typical pattern which emerges 

 from many estuarine studies is that rela- 

 tively few fish species numerically domi- 

 nate the catch. This is certainly true in 

 mangrove-fringed estuaries. In Rookery 

 Bay (Yokel 1975a) six species comprised 

 88% of the trawl -catchable fishes, in 

 Fahkahatchee Bay seven species comprised 

 97% of the catch from three capture 

 techniques (Carter et al. 1973), and in 

 the Marco Island estuary 25 species com- 

 prised 97% of the trawl -catchable fishes 

 (Weinstein et al. 1977). 



Like tidal river and stream communi- 

 ties, these shallow bays serve as nur- 

 series for numerous species of estuarine- 

 dependent fishes that are spawned off- 

 shore. Based on the distribution and 

 abundance of juvenile fishes of all spe- 

 cies in six habitats, Carter et al. (1973) 

 ranked the mangrove-fringed bays as the 

 most important nursery grounds; the tidal 

 streams were a close second. Shallow bays 

 and tidal streams provide safe nurseries 

 due to seasonally abundant food resources 

 and the low frequency of large predators 

 (Carter et al. 1973; Thayer et al. 1978). 

 The relative lack of large predaceous 

 fishes is probably due to their general 

 inability to osmoregulate in waters of low 

 and/or fluctuating salinity. 



As in tidal streams, the peak abun- 

 dance of juvenile and larval fishes in the 

 bays is in spring and early summer (Reid 

 1954). In general, the highest standing 



55 



