Code goby, continued 



6.1 m (Breder 1942, Springer and Woodburn 1960, 

 Springer and McErlean 1961, Huh 1984). They are 

 found in association with pigfish {Orthopristis 

 chrysopteris), gulf pipefish (Syngnathus scovelli), and 

 dusky pipefish (Syngnathus floridae) (Hildebrand 1 954). 



Substrate : Adults are primarily collected over muddy 

 bottoms of grass beds, but they also occur over sand 

 bottoms with covering vegetation such as mangrove 

 roots or seagrasses (Thalassia). They can also occur 

 over bottoms of sand, and mud with shell (Bailey et al. 

 1 954, Kilby 1 955, Tabb and Manning 1 961 , Tabb et al. 

 1962, Dawson 1969, Wang and Raney 1971, 

 Zimmerman 1969, Lee et al. 1980, Huh 1984). 



Physical/Chemical Characteristics : 

 Temperature: Egg development has been observed 

 from 15.5° to 18.5°C (Fritzsche 1978). Temperature 

 tolerances are unknown for both larvae and juveniles. 

 Adults have been collected over a range of 10.0° to 

 34.8°C (Bailey et al. 1954, Reid 1954, Springer and 

 Woodburn 1960, Dawson 1966, Wang and Raney 

 1971, Bonin 1977, Fritzsche 1978). Peak abundance 

 has been reported to occur at an average temperature 

 of 23°C (Krull 1976, Bonin 1977). 



Salinity: Salinity tolerances of eggs, larvae, and juve- 

 niles are not well known. Adults have been found over 

 a wide salinity range, occurring from 2.1 to 37.6%o. 

 They are reported to prefer intermediate to moderately 

 high salinities ranging from 22 to 32%o (Bailey et al. 

 1954, Reid 1954, Kilby 1955, Gunter 1956, Springer 

 and Woodburn 1 960, Tabb et al. 1 962, Dawson 1 966, 

 Wang and Raney 1971, Bonin 1977, Lee et al. 1980, 

 Loftus and Kushlan 1987). 



Movements and Migrations : The code goby is thought 

 to reside throughout the year in seagrass beds 

 (Zimmerman 1 969), with no reported migratory behav- 

 ior. Some movements associated with temperature 

 fluctuations have been observed (Huh 1984, Krull 

 1 976). Studies in Florida bays report movement of this 

 fish to shore during the coldest months, and then back 

 out into bays as temperatures increase (Kilby 1955, 

 Reid 1954). 



Reproduction 



Mode : This species has separate male and female 

 sexes (gonochoristic). Fertilization is external, and 

 development is oviparous. 



Spawning : Spawning has been observed throughout 

 the year in the Gulf of Mexico particularly during late 

 spring and early summer with a peak reported in May 

 (Dawson 1966, Dokken et al. 1984, Huh 1984). This 

 extended spawning season may be due to the short 

 mild winters found in the study area coupled with 



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