• 207 

 156 249 



Figure 35. — Mean salinity (single figure) and salinity range (two figures) in estuaries from Florida Bay to 



Homosassa Bay. See text for sources of data. 



remains generally below 15%<,, yet well above 5%c, 

 as in most of Apalachicola Bay, pests are effect- 

 ively excluded (Galtsoff, 1964— p. 406). 



Apalachicola Bay has 83 percent of the natural 

 public beds on the coast and is foremost in com- 

 mercial production. Swift (1898) found that 

 oystering had been practiced since 1836. His 

 survey produced a map of natural beds and the 

 relative abundance of oysters on the beds, which 

 is still in use with modifications. Subsequently 



Danglade (1917), Ingle (1951), Ingle and Daw- 

 son (1953b), and Menzel, Hulings, and Hath- 

 away (1966) conducted biological studies there, 

 and Colberg and Windham (1966) described 

 the economics of the oyster industry. The Cedar 

 Keys region contains several miles of oyster bars 

 that are exposed at low tide, but the oysters are 

 crowded and stunted; however, at one time shell- 

 stock and shucked oysters were shipped to all 

 of the southeast (Ingle and Dawson, 1953a). 



84 



