41 



are all short and usually deep throii«i:hoiit Iheir entire length. 

 The bays are quite shallow, from two to four feet «»f water beiny 

 found in different ones. The bottom is very soft in most of the 

 bays, outside of the small areas that have been hardened by tbe 

 presence of oyster reefs. The salinity of the water and the 

 amount of the oyster food is about the same as in Terrebonne 

 Bayou above Bayou La Graisse. 



In Mud Bayou {Bayou Bourbeau) there is a reef of oysters 

 that extends across the channel for about one-half a mile from 

 the mouth of the bayou. The bottom outside of the oyster reef 

 is composed of soft mud. The oysters on this reef are arranged 

 in crowded clusters and are of rather poor shape and condition. 



In Bayou Petit Sable there are several dead reefs in the 

 ••channel, and a large one along the shore of Lake Barre at the 

 entrance to this bayou. Outside of the limits of these reefs the 

 bottom is soft. In Bay Au Sable, at the head of this bayou, the 

 water is from three to five feet deep. There are a few small reefs 

 in this bay, the oysters being in scattered bunches and not 

 forming very well defined reefs. The oysters are not very abund- 

 ant on any of these reefs, and the ones that we secured were of 

 rather poor quality. 



The salinity of the water in this bayou and bay was normally 

 about 1.012; but during the freshet of the past spring the salin- 

 ity in the bayou fell to 1.0068. The food organisms were abund- 

 ant in the w^ater except during the freshet when the water was 

 very fresh. 



In Bayou Barre the depth of the water in the channel is 

 from ten to sixteen feet for several miles from the mouth. There 

 {'.re extensive reefs throughout the lower part of the bayou. In 

 some places the oysters are thick, forming a dense hard reef; but 

 over the most of this area they occur in scattered bunches with 

 patches of soft bottom betw-een the clusters. Outside of the reefs 

 the bottom is covered with the same sort of soft deep mud. The 

 supply of food organisms in this bayou is especially abundant. 

 Ihe salinity of the water averaged 1.0124. but was subject to 

 decided fluctuations during the spring months. 



Bay La Peur, immediately to the east of the bayou just 

 mentioned, is about one and one-half miles long and one mile 

 wide. It has connections with Bayou Barre on the west, with 



