and was represented by 78 macro invertebrate species. This station was 

 also sampled quarterly on all nine transects and produced the lowest 

 average number of individuals per sample (Table 16) . The five most 

 abundant species accounted for 77.9 percent of the individuals. The 

 dominant animal was a new species of amphipod, Aaanthohaus tortus n. sp., 

 representing 38 percent of the individuals. The other abundant species 

 in decreasing order were the pelecypod, D. texasianus (17 percent), 

 amphipods, Protohaustorius n. sp. (9 percent) and Pseudohaus tortus n. 

 sp. (8 percent), and a polychaete, D. unoinata (6 percent). 

 Collectively, the three species of amphipods accounted for over 54 

 percent of the individuals (Table 21) . The dominant polychaete at this 

 station was different than at the three shoreward stations; however, 

 both S. squamata and S. pettiboneae were present at station 4. 



Polychaeta was the most diverse animal taxon with 26 species. 

 Other major taxa with numerous species were Pelecypoda, Amphipoda, and 

 Brachyura with nine, eight, and seven species, respectively. Eleven 

 of the major taxa were represented by a single species (Table 21). Two 

 of the polychaete species [D. unainata and P. fulgens) accounted for 

 73 percent of the polychaetes. Seven of the eight amphipod species 

 were new species; collectively, they accounted for 99.6 percent of the 

 amphipods and 55.7 percent of the total individuals at station 4. 

 Donax texasianus remained the dominant bivalve and represented 96.4 

 percent of the pelecypods (Table 21) . 



Seasonally, the highest number of individuals occurred in May. 

 The two most abundant animals were D. texasianus and Aaanthohaus tortus 

 n. sp. These two were also the dominant animals at station 3 during 

 May. February was the month with the least individuals. The month 

 of May was also represented by the highest number of species. At all 

 shoreward stations, August had the highest number of species. The 

 lowest number of species occurred during February (Table 21) . 



(5) Station 5 . Station 5 was located seaward of the second 

 sandbar in 10 feet of water. It was represented by 86 macro inverte- 

 brate species and 3 species of fish. This station was also sampled 

 quarterly and had the second lowest average number of individuals per 

 sample (Table 16). The five most abundant species accounted for 71.5 

 percent of the individuals. The dominant species was a new amphipod 

 species, Aaanthohaus tortus n. sp., representing 28 percent of the total 

 individuals. This species was also the dominant animal at stations 3 

 and 4. Two other new species of amphipods {Protohaustorius n. sp. and 

 Pseudohaus tortus n. sp.) were ranked second and third in abundance 

 with 19 and 10 percent of the total individuals, respectively. 

 Collectively, the three new species of amphipods accounted for 57 

 percent of the total individuals at station 5. The fourth ranked 

 species was the lancelet, Branahio stoma floridae, with 8 percent of the 



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