fins. Also, several parasitic copepods ( Argulus 

 sp.) were found on the skin. Mature or im. 

 mature nematodes ( Ascaris spp.) were some- 

 times found in the body cavity or encysted in 

 the viscera. We saw no evidence of bacterial 

 or fungal infections in the pond, although 

 pompano appeared to be highly susceptible to 

 these infections in overcrowded laboratory 

 aquariums contaminated by uneaten food. 



Food habits of adult pompano are still 

 largely unknown, but there is some evidence 

 that the diet becomes more diversified as 

 they mature. MoUusks are the favorite food 

 of all size groups. In Tarnipa Bay, adult 

 pompano feed on a small branched mussel, 

 Branchidontes exustus . which is attached to 

 rocks on the bottom. No fish remains were 

 found in several hundred specimens of a wide 

 range of sizes from the Tampa Bay area. A 

 single juvenile pompano (51 mm. SL) from 

 St. Augustine, Fla., had 46 postlarval sciaenids 

 in its stomach, but fish apparently do not 

 normally constitute a major item in the diet. 



GULF OF MEXICO ESTUARINE 

 ESIVENTORY PROJECT 



J. Kneeland McNulty 



Collection of closely comparable data from 

 Florida to Texas is a major goal of the Inven- 

 tory. It is being accomiplished by the co- 

 operative work of the marine fishery depart- 

 ments of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi; 

 the Bureau of Connmercial Fisheries Labora- 

 tories at Galveston (covering Texas) and 

 St. Petersburg Beach (covering Florida); and 

 several other governmental agencies and edu- 

 cational institutions. 



The data are comparable because partici- 

 pants decided unaninnously what work is to be 

 accomplished and how it is to be done. Work 

 outlines being followed were written, dis- 

 cussed, modified, and adopted in fiscal year 

 1967. A few improvements were made in 1968 

 after people began using the outlines. 



The group with the authority to resolve 

 problenns on methods, procedures, and policies 

 continues to be the ETCC (Estuarine Technical 

 Coordinating Committee) of the Gulf States 

 Marine Fisheries Commission. 



Two ETCC subcommiittees have worked 

 effectively during this fiscal year to solve 

 key problems. The subcommittee onautonnatic 

 data processing produced data formats and 

 coding instructions for Biology, Hydrology, 

 and Sedimentology phases which were mutually 

 acceptable to the participants and the NODC 

 (National Oceanographic Data Center), Wash- 

 ington, D. C. NODC has agreed to do the card 

 punching, nnachine printouts (listings), stor- 

 age, and eventually the connputer analyses. 

 NODC assigned a staff nnember temporarily 



to this Laboratory on October 30, 1967, to 

 design preliminary data formats and write 

 drafts of coding instructions in cooperation 

 with the participants. The resulting forn-iats 

 and instructions are the first of their kind in 

 estuarine work; they are being examined by 

 the Federal Water Pollution Control Adminis- 

 tration and the Atlantic States Marine Fish- 

 eries Commission for possible application to 

 their work. 



A second subcommittee resolved various 

 opinions on the scales and symbols to be used 

 in maps. A uniform set of symbols to depict 

 various elements --such as sources of pollu- 

 tion, submerged vegetation, and oyster beds-- 

 was unanimously adopted, and agreennent was 

 reached on the scale of maps which are to 

 appear in the State atlases. 



Thus, several institutions from Florida to 

 Texas are accomplishing a connprehensive and 

 uniform study of estuaries. We feel that the 

 benefits extend beyond the tangible accom- 

 plishments to the intangible benefits derived 

 from many people in several institutions 

 working in harmony toward a worthwhile goal. 



During the past year, this Laboratory nearly 

 completed gathering data for the Area De- 

 scription phase for Florida, and started field 

 work concurrently with other participants on 

 the Biology and Hydrology phases. 



Area Description 



The basic data of the Area Description 

 phase are available as aerial photographs, 

 navigation charts, population figures, oyster 

 lease descriptions, county pollution data, 

 knowledge of local fishermen, stream dis- 

 charge data, etc. The purpose of this phase 

 is to organize the data and present them as 

 a useful body of information. 



We have learned many new things about the 

 estuaries on Florida's west coast. For ex- 

 ample, we have known in a general way that 

 their total area is large but did not realize 

 that their combined area (including Florida 

 Bay) of 8,000 km. is over 4 times the area 

 of Lake Okeechobee, over 1-1/2 times the 

 area of Long Island Sound, and about 84 per- 

 cent of the area of Chesapeake Bay. 



Large-scale aerial photographs usually show 

 underwater patches of vegetation as mottled 

 dark areas. By exannining all available photo- 

 graphs of the coast and mapping the sub- 

 merged areas of vegetation, we found that 

 26 percent of all bay bottoms have plants. 

 The figure is 20 percent larger if only depths 

 less than 2 m. are considered. The published 

 atlas is to include maps of submerged vegeta- 

 tion. The resource is limited, and the Inven- 

 tory shows the limits for the first time. 



Hydraulic dredge -and -fill operations have 

 aroused concern over their effects on fish and 

 wildlife resources; yet they have not been 

 mapped to determine their total impact. We 



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