By August 18th the conch started moving away from the 

 channel entrance to the north and south. On September 9th only 

 two conch were observed at the channel entrance, but heavy con- 

 centrations were found along the shallow shore on both sides. 

 Ambient water temperature was 31.6°C, shoreline temperature was 

 3l.6°C, and effluent temperature was 33.3°C. 



On October 7th most conch were concentrated in two large 

 clusters on the south side of the inlet. Waterflow from the 

 channel at this time was northward alongshore. Ambient tempera- 

 ture was 26°C; effluent temperature reached 27°C by noon. This 

 was the last observation of the Norman's Pond Cay population of 

 conch due to an almost complete harvest by local fishermen soon 

 after October 7th. 



We presume that the association of juvenile S^ gigas with 

 the salt pond effluent was related to higher temperature and 

 possibly higher nutrient content of effluent water (which was 

 normally a murky green color), particularly during the late 

 spring to early fall months. However, in July 1984 we observed 

 that during the ebbing tide, when the channel water flows sea- 

 ward, the conch moved away from the entrance as illustrated in 

 Table 1. 



We believe this movement of conch away from the channel 

 during the outgoing tide was due to either the strong current 

 coming from the channel or abnormally high temperatures of 

 effluent water occasionally found at midday. 



During late summer, when temperatures of the pond effluent 

 reached 33.3°C, the conch moved away from the channel completely 

 but remained along the shoreline. 



In October 1984 westerly storms and winds brought 

 relatively high wave action onto Norman's Pond Cay. We observed 

 that for one week following this action, many of the young S . 

 gigas were partially buried or gathered around small coral heads. 

 Presumably this behavior was in response to the high energy waves 

 in shallow water that could wash the conch onto the beach. Only 

 a few dead conch were found stranded on the beach after the 

 storm. Appeldoorn (1985) reported that burial of S^ gigas and S. 

 costatus was greater during periods of turbulence in Puerto Rican 

 waters . 



Children's Bay Cay 



Our pilot studies were centered around a large S^ gigas 

 nursery area adjacent to Children's Bay Cay just south of Lee 

 Stocking Island during 1985 and 1986. This nursery area is 

 characterized by Thalassia grass, coral rubble, stabilized sand 

 and adjacent shifting ooid shoals. Depth ranges between 3 and 



353 



