Bay anchovy, continued 



Table 5.20. Relative abundance of bay anchovy in 

 31 Gulf of Mexico estuaries (from Volume /)• 



Relative abundance: 



# Highly abundant 



(§) Abundant 



O Common 



V Rare 



blank Not present 



Life stage: 



A - Adults 



S - Spawning adults 



J - Juveniles 



L - Larvae 



E - Eggs 



Within Study Area : Within U.S. Gulf of Mexico estuar- 

 ies, the bay anchovy occurs from the Rio Grande, 

 Texas to the Florida Keys, primarily in open bays 

 (Springer and Woodburn 1960, Hoese and Moore 

 1977) (Table 5.20). 



Life Mode 



All life stages are pelagic, and occur throughout the 

 water column (Kuntz 1913, Reid 1955, Hoese 1965, 

 Houde 1974, Hoese and Moore 1977, Ward and 

 Armstrong 1980). Eggs are most abundant at the 

 surface; however, they are found throughout the water 

 column, while larvae, juveniles, and adults are prima- 

 rily nektonic (Kuntz 1 91 3, Hildebrand 1 943, Reid 1 955, 

 Darnell 1 958, Darnell 1 961 , Jones et al. 1 978). Larvae 

 primarily occupy the upper portion of the water column, 

 while juveniles are more closely associated with deeper 

 waters. Adults are pelagic and are found primarily in 

 inshore waters, but they occur in offshore waters as 

 well (Hildebrand 1963, Jones et al. 1978). Large 

 schools form during the day in protected areas, usually 

 close to shore. The bay anchovy has been observed 

 to form small schools at night while feeding in the 

 presence of predators (Hildebrand 1943, Arnold et al. 

 1960, Daly 1970, Hoese and Moore 1977, Ward and 

 Armstrong 1980). Activity is primarily nocturnal and is 

 probably associated with feeding (Zimmerman 1969, 

 Daly 1970). 



Habitat 



Ty pe: This is primarily a shallow estuarine and inshore 

 coastal waterspecies (Gunter 1 945, Kilby 1 955, Arnold 

 etal. 1960, Springerand Woodburn 1960, Swingle and 

 Bland 1974, Jones et al. 1978, Sheridan 1978, Ward 

 and Armstrong 1980, Sheridan 1983). The bay an- 

 chovy is able to exploit a wide variety of habitats, 

 including bays and bayous, sandy beaches, muddy 

 coves, grassy areas along beaches, rivers and their 

 mouths, and both shallow and deeper waters offshore 

 (Reid 1 955, Swingle and Bland 1 974, Swift et al. 1 977, 

 Jones et al. 1978, Sheridan 1978), but prefers bays 

 and estuaries to shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico 

 (Gunter 1945, Kilby 1955, Springer and Woodburn 

 1960, Christmas and Waller 1973). It is particularly 

 abundant in primary and secondary bays, around 

 shallow bay margins, islands, spoil banks, and shel- 

 tered coves, and is less common in tertiary bays (Kilby 

 1955, Simmons 1957, Swingle 1971, Ward and 

 Armstrong 1 980). It has been reported to occur from 

 fresh to hypersaline waters (Simmons 1957, Perret 



1 971 , Swingle and Bland 1 974) and from depths of 0.5 

 to 20.0 m, appearing to prefer 2 to 3 m (Reid 1954, 

 Renf ro 1 960, Miller 1 965, Bechtel and Copeland 1 970, 

 Franks 1970, Perret 1971, Swingle 1971, Dunham 



1972, Dokken et al. 1984). This species has been 

 collected in water with turbidities of 0.5 m to 0.7 m 

 secchi depth (Reid 1955), and it has been suggested 



154 



