Figure 12. — Sled with suction head affixed between parallel 

 guides. 



Sampling procedure 



Sampling stations were establisheci in shallow 

 water near the shores of salt-water lakes 



within Florida Bay. These stations include a 

 variety of habitat types in respect to substrate 

 and vegetative cover. These stations are 12,5 

 by 12.5 m. (186,9 sq. yd.) and are marked so 

 that repeated samples can be obtained from 

 the same area. The inner border of each 

 station parallels the shoreline. Exploratory 

 sampling revealed that postlarval and juvenile 

 shrimp are often concentrated in marine 

 vegetation near the low-water mark in a 

 zone paralleling the shoreline. (Samples 1 to 

 4 in table 3 were taken parallel to the shore- 

 line and sample 5 perpendicular to the shore- 

 line.) For a more accurate measure of abun- 

 dance, therefore, the sampler is drawn 

 perpendicular to the inner and outer borders 

 of the station. At each station, two tows are 

 made at not less than 2-wk. intervals. Possible 

 habitat changes due to repeated sampling are 

 minimized because such a small proportion 

 of the station is disturbed. 



Preliminary Results 



Sampling began April 1965 after we made 

 final refinements to the suction dredge. Re- 

 sults obtained in three areas are compared 

 in table 4. 



The lack of quantitative measures of pink 

 shrimp abundance in the past precludes more 

 than a general evaluation of pink shrimp 

 densities in Florida Bay at this time. When 

 compared with the Biscayne Bay values of 

 7.0 and 2.2 shrimp per square meter (10.8 

 ft. 2), densities of 1.5 and 0.8 shrimp per 

 square meter in Florida Bay may be low. 



Thomas J. Costello, Project Leader 

 and Donald M. Allen 



Table 3. — Postlarval and juvenile pink shrimp zonation 

 in shallow-water sea-grass beds in Biscayne Bay^ 



Samples collected March 1965. 



17 



