most frequently were Clupeidae (herrings), Engraulidae (anchovies), Sparidae 

 (porgies), Sciaenidae (croakers), and Mugilidae (mullets). These are included 

 among the eight most abundant species found by Reid (1956) in his summer 

 studies of East Bay, Texas. The occurrence and abundance of larval forms of 

 the first four of these families in the plankton catches is presented for each 

 month in tables 2-5, with accompanying discussion. Juveniles, never less than 

 25 mm. in total length, were the earliest life history stage of Mugilidae taken. 

 As juvenile mullet are too agile to be captured easily by plankton nets, catches 

 with this gear were not regarded as representative. Estimates of their abundance 

 and occurrence were obtained by connbining the catches of plankton nets, cast 

 nets and dip nets, and visual observations. The remaining families and/or species 

 are discussed in less detail. Family nomenclature and order of presentation 

 follow that of Berg (1947). Alternate nomenclature still in common usage is given 

 in parentheses. 



Lengths of specimens possessing forked tails were measured from the tip 

 of snout to caudal fork. Those with nonforked tails were measured from the tip of 

 snout to the tip of the longest caudal ray. 



Developmental stages of fishes referred to in this paper may be defined as 

 follows: 



Larva - organism between emergence from ovum to the point where adult 

 characteristics begin to appear. In B. patronus. for example, deepening 

 of the body and appearance of a lateral silvery sheen occurs when the 

 larva reaches approximately 23 mm. in length. Hubbs (1943) separates 

 larvae into "pro-larvae" (emergence from ova to absorption of yolk 

 sac) and "post-larvae" (fronn absorption of yolk sac to transformation 

 into juvenile). Most of the identified lagoon fish larvae would fall into 

 this latter category. 



Juvenile - organisnn whose morphological characteristics are essentially similar 

 to that of the adult. 



Young - young of the year; zero year -class. 



Limitations on time precluded classifying many of the invertebrates into the 

 lesser taxonomic groups. Because of the great variations in numbers of the 

 invertebrates collected, they were recorded in seven categories of abundance, 

 as follows: 



No. per sample 



10,000+ 



The four most abundant forms on a year-round basis are presented according to 

 the percent occurrence of the abundance categories by nnonth for the entire period 

 of collection (see section on invertebrates, figs. 7 - 10). The order of presentation 

 of invertebrates follows that of Pratt 1948. 



Variations in the water temperature data are shown in figures 4-5. The 

 temperature was determined by either immersing a thermometer directly into 

 the water of the basin or into water dipped up in a plastic bucket. Temperatures 



4 



