the storm; 9 days after the storm, the number of species also dropped 

 and did not increase substantially for almost 3 weeks (Table 32) . 



The large number of species found after the storm is abnormal for 

 this habitat. In 11 months of sampling before the storm (November 1974 

 to September 1975) at the same nine sites, the average number of 

 species caught per month for the 11 -month period was only 7.1. The 

 highest number of species during a single month from the nine sites 

 was 12 (Table 33). 



Table 33. Number of species and individuals of 

 benthic macro invertebrates collected 

 at nine sites for 11 months before 

 Hurricane Eloise. 



Date 



Species 



Individuals 



1974 







Nov. 



4 



86 



Dec. 



7 



425 



1975 







Jan. 



4 



967 



Feb. 



8 



1,169 



Mar. 



6 



439 



Apr. 



6 



642 



May 



9 



7,384 



June 



5 



4,947 



July 



11 



736 



Aug. 



12 



486 



Sept. 



6 



424 



Total 



26 



17,705 



The diversity index on the day before the storm was the lowest of 

 the 8 sampling days. It was only slightly higher than the average 

 value for 12 months at station 1 (Tables 29 and 32). The highest 

 diversity index was on the first day after the storm and then it 

 decreased through the 6 days following Eloise, and gradually increased 

 again. All diversity indexes after Eloise were above one. During the 

 12 months of sampling at the same sites, only August exceeded a 

 diversity index of one (Tables 29 and 32) . 



A total of 43 species was taken at the nine sites on the eight 

 sampling trips. Three species represented 92.8 percent of the 

 individuals; 18 species were represented by a single individual 

 (Table 34). The three abundant species were an anomuran, E. talpoida; 

 an amphipod, Haustorius n. sp.; and a polychaete, S. squamata. Donaoc 



107 



