Striped mullet, continued 



group of other popular recreational species from the 

 inshore Gulf (spotted seatrout, sand seatrout, sheep- 

 shead, red drum, and black drum), mullet ranked 

 second in Florida, third in Mississippi, and fourth in 

 Alabama (Leard pers. comm.). 



Indicator of Environmental Stress This species has 

 been used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

 (EPA) to study the toxicology of crude oil (Minchew and 

 Yarbrough 1977). Another study indicates that the 

 results of striped mullet responses to DDT at different 

 temperatures have application for the development of 

 water quality criteria in Australia (Powell and Fielder 

 1982). 



Ecological : Striped mullet is an important forage fish 

 and forms a major component in the flow of energy 

 through the estuarine system by feeding at the lowest 

 trophic levels and providing food to birds and many 

 important commercial and game fish (Kilby 1949, 

 Fontenot and Rogillio 1 970, Moore 1 974, Sogard et al. 

 1989). 



Range 



Overall : Striped mullet occur world-wide in warm tropi- 

 cal, sub-tropical, and temperate waters 42° N to 42° S 

 (46° N in Mediterranean and Black Sea), but are less 

 common in equatorial areas (Anderson 1958, Moore 

 1974, Hoese and Moore 1977, Martin and Drewry 

 1978, Lee et al. 1980, Ward and Armstrong 1980, 

 NOAA 1985, Shipp 1986). Juveniles are often col- 

 lected outside the above latitudes, usually in the fall. 

 On the U.S. east coast, they are most abundant from 

 Cape Hatteras southward, but also occur in the Chesa- 

 peake and Mid-Atlantic region, and occasionally as far 

 north as Nova Scotia (Lee et al. 1 980). They are found 

 on the U.S. west coast from San Francisco Bay south- 

 ward, and in coastal waters of the Hawaiian Islands 

 where they are known as 'ama'ama (Squire and Smith 

 1977). 



Within Study Area : Striped mullet occurs throughout 

 the Gulf of Mexico in shallow marine and estuarine 

 habitats (Gunter 1945, Moore 1974, Ward and 

 Armstrong 1 980). This fish is very common along the 

 west coast of Florida, and is most abundant along the 

 south Florida coasts. It is also one of the most 

 numerous species in the bay flats along the Texas 

 coast (Gunter 1945, Broadhead 1953, Collins 1985, 

 Killam et al. 1992) (Table 5.40). 



Life Mode 



All stages are pelagic, occurring primarily in the shal- 

 low part of the water column, although some deep 

 recoveries have been reported (Arnold and Thompson 

 1958, Thomson 1966, Hoese and Moore 1977, 

 Finucane et al. 1978, Martin and Drewry 1978, Ward 



306 



