Gunter (1956b) recorded B, smithi, 

 B. giinteri and B. patronus as being 

 euryhaline . 



Hubbs (1957) in a revision of a 

 former checklist included Brevoovtia 

 gunteri among fishes to be found in 

 fresh waters of Texas. 



Briggs (1958) listed B. smithi and 

 B. tyrannus from the Atlantic coast of 

 Florida and said B. tyrannus was to be 

 found on both sides of the Atlantic. He 

 listed B, patronus from Tampa north- 

 ward and B. gunteri from Cedar Keys 

 (probably on Caldwell's record) to 

 Campeche . 



Suttkus (1958) discussed the dis- 

 tribution of three species of menhaden 

 in the Gulf. In summary he said: 



"The two fine-scaled species, 

 Brevoortia gunteri and B. smithi, 



occur in the western and eastern 

 Gulf respectively. The single large- 

 scaled form, B, patronus, overlaps 

 B. gunteri in the western Gulf from 

 Brazos Santiago, Texas, to Grand 

 Isle, Louisiana, and overlaps B, 

 smithi in the eastern Gulf at Cedar 

 Keys." 



Springer and Woodburn (I960) 

 found young B. patrOHUS and young B, 

 smithi together in the Tampa Bay, 

 Florida, area. Concerning the move- 

 ment of young B. patronus they said: 



"In contrast to Suttkus' finding that 

 emigration from estuarine waters 

 took place in July and August, we 

 found no specimens in the bayou after 

 May. . . . The collection from Johns 

 Pass. . . during July does indicate 

 that migration to the Gulf had occur- 

 red at least this early and possibly 

 as early as June." 



Food and Feeding 



Gowanloch (1933). Gunter (1945) 

 and Reid (1955a) stated that GuM Br e- 

 VOOrtia are plankton feeders. Darnell 

 (1958) examined the stomach contents 

 of 17 specimens of B. patrOTtUS from 

 Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. All 



contained food nnaterial. Food of small 

 menhaden (38-48 mm.) consisted chiefly 

 of phytoplankton with small amounts of 

 zooplankton and plant fragments. Sev- 

 eral species of Anabaena comprised 

 77 percent of the total food while the 

 remaining phytoplankton was com- 

 posed of diatoms. Detritus constituted 

 11 percent of the stomach contents. 

 The small menhaden had obviously 

 been straining plankton at the surface 

 and apparently at depths below the 

 surface . 



The larger menhaden (85- 103 mnn.) 

 examined by Darnell (1958) contained, 

 in the muscular pyloric region of the 

 stomach, 99 percent ground organic 

 matter and silt with a few diatoms, 

 foramniferans and copepods. Suspen- 

 sions of ground up organic matter were 

 observed, particularly along the south 

 shore of the lake "where wave action 

 was reducing the organic material of 

 the marshy shore to the consistency of 

 coffee grounds." Darnell concluded 

 that menhaden fed by filtration, and that 

 suspended bacteria and material other 

 than living plankton were an important 

 component of the food of menhaden in 

 turbid estuaries. 



Enemies and Mortality 



Arthur (1931) commented on men- 

 haden as food of the brown pelican in 

 the following words: 



"The pelican is a fish eater. While 

 it may be true that the pelican, once 

 in a while, may catch what man 

 terms a 'food fish*, the number of 

 such fish of commercial value it 

 consumes does not justify the prej- 

 udice felt against the big bird. When 

 the World War was on and the Food 

 Administration was calling on the 

 people to 'eat more fish', some 

 fishermen, residents of Florida, 

 asked that an edict be issued calling 

 for the pelican's extermination on 

 the theory that it was to blame for 

 a food-fish shortage. But before this 

 wholesale slaughter was ordered, 

 cooler heads counseled inquiry and 

 in the summer of 1918 the Depart- 

 ment of Conservation conducted a 



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