Partial correlation analyses indicated that 

 catches of flyingfishes, Exocoetidae, and silver 

 driftfish, Psenes maculatus, were positively corre- 

 lated with speed. Catches of the planehead filefish, 

 Monacanthus hispidus, pygmy filefish, M. setifer, 

 and dolphin, Coryphaena hippurus, increased 

 with concentrations of sargassum weed which cor- 

 responds to earlier observations by Dooley (1972). 

 Catches of Exocoetidae were negatively correlated 

 with manatee grass (Eldridge et al. 1977). 



Chi-square analyses indicated that catches of 41 

 taxa were significantly affected by changes in 

 diurnal period (Table 1). Catches of 29 were great- 

 er at night, whereas collections of 12 were greater 

 during daylight hours. There was no evidence to 

 suggest that catches varied significantly between 

 diurnal periods for six species groups. 



Data in Table 1 indicate that specimens o^Auxis 

 sp., Scombridae, Priacanthidae, Gobiidae, Anguil- 

 liformes, Carangidae, Psenes maculatus, Holocen- 

 tridae, Caranx sp., Synodontidae, Euthynnus al- 

 letteratus, Decapterus sp., Coryphaena equisetis, 

 Labridae, Scomberomorus cavalla, Serranidae, 

 Cynoglossidae, Bothus sp., Canthigaster sp., 

 Apogonidae, and Rachycentron canadum could be 

 considered "faculative neuston" (Hempel and 

 Weikert 1972). Specimens of Gerreidae, 7s- 

 tiophorus platypterus, Balistidae, Pomacentridae, 

 Kyphosus sp., and Selar crumenophthalmus ap- 

 pear to be "euneuston" as defined by Hempel and 

 Weikert (1972). Similarly, Mugil curema, Caranx 

 crysos, and Decapterus punctatus appear to be 

 "pseudoneuston." 



Mugil cephalus was identified as an euneustonic 

 species by Hempel and Weikert (1972); whereas 

 M. curema in our samples appeared to be 

 pseudoneustonic. The difference may be real be- 

 cause different species are involved or simply a 

 sampling artifact. Similarly, although young 

 stages of Exocoetidae were reported as rarely en- 

 countered and as concentrating at the surface dur- 

 ing daytime by Hempel and Weikert (1972), 

 Exocoetidae were the second most abundant taxa 

 in our samples and were taken mostly at night. 

 The reason for this is unknown, but may be due to 

 differences in location, species sampled, or random 

 error associated with sampling of ichthyoneuston. 



Tetraodontidae, puffers, were taken most often 

 during the day and were positively correlated with 

 density of manatee grass. 



Results of the neuston gear experiment indi- 

 cated that 1) the 4.9-m net is the superior net for 

 routine surveys, and 2) choice of sampling hours 

 should take into account variation in catches as- 

 sociated with changes in light conditions. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank members of the crew and scientific 

 party of RV Dolphin, who performed the field 

 work, especially Bruce Stender, Bill Leland, and 

 Oleg Pashuk. Thanks are also due to Howard 

 Powles, Paul Sandifer, and Edwin B. Joseph, who 

 reviewed the manuscript and to Patricia Dupree 

 and Lexa Ford who typed the manuscript. 



Literature Cited 



DOOLEY, J. K. 



1972. Fishes associated with the pelagic sargassum com- 

 plex, with a discussion of the sargassum communi- 

 ty. Contrib. Mar. Sci. 16:1-32. 



Eldridge, p. J., F. H. Berry, and M. C. Miller, III. 



1977. Test results of the Boothbay neuston net related to 

 net length, diurnal period, and other variables. S.C. 

 Mar. Resour. Cent. Tech. Rep. 18, 22 p. 

 Hempel, G., and H. Weikert. 



1972. The neuston of the subtropical and boreal North- 

 eastern Atlantic Ocean. A review. Mar. Biol. (Berl.) 

 13:70-88. 



Sherman, K., and R. D. Lewis. 



1967. Seasonal occurrence of larval lobsters in coastal 

 waters of central Maine. Proc. Natl. Shellfish. Assoc. 

 57:27-30. 



Peter J. Eldridge 



Marine Resources Research Institute 



South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department 



P.O. Box 12559, Charleston, SC 29412 



Frederick H. Berry 



Southeast Fisheries Center 



National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 



75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL 33149 



M. Clinton Miller, III 



Department of Biometry 



Medical University of South Carolina 



Charleston, SC 29401 



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