The pipefishes, Syngnathus scovil 1 i , _S. 

 flor idae, S^. louisianae , and Micrognatus 

 crin igerus , as well as the seahorses Hip- 

 pocampus zos t erae and U_. erectus are abun- 

 dant in seagrass throughout south Florida. 

 The gobies and clinids are diverse groups 

 and well represented in seagrass fish 

 assemblages of southern Florida. The most 

 abundant goby is Gobisona robustum . The 

 clinids appear to be limited to the clear- 

 er waters of the Florida Keys and Florida 

 Bay, where Paracl inus fasciatus and P^. 

 marmoratus are most abundant. 



Other resident fish species are char- 

 acteristic of seagrass habitat. The 

 inshore lizardfish ( Synodus foetens ) is a 

 conmon epibenthic fish predator. The 

 small grass bed parrotfishes -- Spari soma 

 rubr ipinne , _S. radian s, and S^. chrysop- 

 terum — are found in the clearer waters 

 of the Florida Keys where they graze di- 

 rectly on seagrass. Fels, including mem- 

 bers of families Moringuidae, Xenocongri- 

 dae, Muraenidae and Ophichtidae (Robblee 

 and Zieman, in preparation), are diverse 

 and abundant in grass beds of St. Croix, 

 U.S. Virgin Islands. These secretive 

 fishes are typically overlooked in fish 

 community surveys. In the grass beds of 

 south Florida, the Ophochtid eels Myrich- 

 thys acuminatus , the sharptail eel, and M^. 

 ocul atus , the goldspotted eel, can com- 

 monly be observed moving through the grass 

 during the day while young moray eels, 

 Cymnothorax spp., are not uncommon at 

 night foraging in grass beds for molluscs. 



Seasonal residents are animals that 

 spend their juvenile or subadult stages or 

 their spavming season in the grass bed. 

 Sciaenids, sparids, pomadasyids, lutjan- 

 ids, and gerrids are abundant seasonal 

 residents in south Florida's seagrass com- 

 munities. Seasonal residents use the sea- 

 grass meadow largely as a nursery ground. 



At least eight sciaenid species have 

 been found over grass in the variable 

 salinity, high turbidity waters of south- 

 western Florida's estuaries and coastal 

 lagoons. Not all of these fishes occur 

 abundantly, and only the spotted seatrout 

 (Cynoscion nebulosus ) , the spot ( Leiosto- 

 mus xanthurus ) , and the silver perch 

 ( Bairdiella chrysura ) occur commonly over 

 grass. The pigfish ( Orthopristis chrysop- 

 tera ) is the abundant grunt (Pomadasyidae) 



of muddy bottoms and turbid water associ- 

 ated with grass in Florida's variable 

 salinity regions (Tabb and f'lanning 1961; 

 Tabb et al." 1062; Yokel 1975a, ' 1975b; 

 Weinstein et al . 1977; Weinstein and Heck 

 1979) and is at best rare in the Florida 

 Keys. Other grunts occur over grass only 

 rarely in southwestern Florida and Florida 

 Bay and include Anisotrenus virginicus , 

 Haemulon scirus , and H^. aurol ineatum . 

 Lagodon rhomboides , the pinfish, was the 

 most abundant fish collected in these 

 waters and has demonstrated a strong af- 

 finity for seagrass (Gunter 1945; Caldwell 

 1957; Yokel 1975a, 1975h). Eucinostomus 

 quia and £. argenteus are seasonally 

 abundant gerrids also most common over 

 grass. 



With the exception of the pigfish, 

 the pomadasyids already mentioned are 

 joined by H^. flavol ineatum , H. parri , and 

 U_. carbonarium in the clearer waters of 

 the Florida Keys. Snappers and grunts are 

 more diverse in the clearer v^aters of the 

 Florida Keys. Lutjanus griseus and I. 

 synqaris , which are common throuohout 

 south Florida, are joined by the school- 

 master {I. apodus ) the mutton snapper (U 

 anal is ) the dog snapper (U jocu ), and the 

 yellowtail snapper ( Ocyurus chrysurus ). 

 Thayer et al . (1978b) list several season- 

 ally resident fishes that are prominent 

 fishes of sport or commercial fishery 

 value and include the sea bream ( Archosar- 

 ous rhomboides ), the sheepshead (A. pro- 

 batocephalus ), the gap grouper ( Tycterop- 

 erca mic rolepis ), and the redfish (Sciae- 

 nops ocel lata ). 



The subtropical seagrass system of 

 south Florida appears to differ signifi- 

 cantly from more temperate beds by the 

 presence of relatively large numbers of 

 prominent coral reef fishes over grass at 

 night when the bed is located in the vici- 

 nity of coral reefs. Fishes from families 

 Pomadasyidae, Lutjanidae, and Holocentri- 

 dae find shelter on the reef during the 

 day and move into adjacent grass beds at 

 night to feed. This situation is typical 

 of Caribbean seagrass meadows. All of the 

 grunts and snappers mentioned above except 

 6. chrysurus , when of appropriate size, 

 will live diurnal ly on the reef and feed 

 in the grass bed at night. Diel visitors 

 use the grass bed primarily as a feeding 

 ground. 



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