Table 1. —Percentage of menhaden in the Mississippi purse seine catchesj: 



1/ 



\J The catch estimates were made by boat captains and weie foiand to check closely with measured 

 weights unloaded at port. The 3 columns to the right give the percentages by number in the samples. 



Jacks and sharks were handled by the fish- 

 ermen in the same way except that jacks 

 were not killed deliberately, as sharks 

 usually were. 



Twelve species observed in the nets 

 but not found in the sanples were not abun- 

 dant in the catches. The cowfish ( Acantho- 

 stracion quadricomis ), ocellated fluke 

 ( Ancylopsetta quaclro'cellatus ), pig fish 

 ( Orthopristes chrysopterus ), and 

 southern lake ( Uroph^^is floridanus ) 

 were observed only once; shark remora 

 ( Echenaucrates ), sea robin ( Prionotus 

 sp . ) , butterfly ray ( Pteroplatea 

 micrura), and cow-nose ray ( Rhinoptera 

 quadriloba ) were seen twice; and 

 sheepshead ( Archosargus probatocepha - 

 lus) was found in three sets. Tongue- 

 f ish ( Symphunis plagius a) gilled in 

 the net four times. Southern flounders 

 ( Paralichthys lethostigma) and spiny 

 box fishes ( Chilomycterus schoepfi ) 

 were observed on five occasions. 



Thirty-six specimens of 13 

 species were seen only in the sairples 

 and were not otherwise observed. The 

 numbers per species ranged from 1 to 

 9. Six of these species were repre- 

 sented by one specimen each; the other 

 7 species were represented by 31 

 specimens. Twenty-seven species which 

 occurred in sairples and which were 

 also observed in the nets account for 

 98.3 percent of the 2,179 fishes other 

 than menhaden counted in the sanples. 



The striped mullet, Magil cepha- 



lus , accounted for Ul.U percent of the 

 count of other fishes taken, but was found 

 at only six stations. One set accounted 

 for 869 of the 902 rmillet in the samples. 

 On July 11 off Bird Island in Breton Sound, 

 the spotter plane pilot led the boat to a 

 large school of mullet that had been mis- 

 taken for menhaden. Sanples from this 

 haul of 30,000 "fish" were 98. U percent 

 mullet. Numerous large schools of this 

 species were in the area and were avoided 

 by the purse seiners when recognized. 

 Twenty-five percent of the other fishes in 



— I 1 1 1 1 1 I 



20 25 30 35 40 43 50 

 NUMBER OF HAULS 



Figure 3. — ^Percentage of menhaden in purse seine hauls, 

 1958-59. 



