stations; 5,959 individuals, representing 125 taxa, were collected from 

 19 to 23 May 1980. Composite species lists andfaunal counts for all" 

 stations for each sampling period are presented in Appendix B. A checklist 

 of species collected during this study (Table 11) lists 162 taxa repre- 

 senting 14 animal phyla. 



(1) Species Composition . Of the 128 taxa collected in November- 

 December, the most abundant group was the polychaetes (36 species), 

 followed by bivalves (14 species) , gastropods (13 species) , amphipods (.10 

 species), and brachyurans (10 species). For May, the same groups were 

 again dominant: polychaetes (36 species), gastropods (15 species), amphi- 

 pods (12 species) , bivalves (11 species) , and brachyurans (9 species) . 

 These data are presented in Table 12. Other major groups were represented 

 by few species and composed only a small percentage of the total fauna. 



For November -December, the most abundant species at transect stations 

 2 to 5 was the polychaete Paraonls fulgens (25, 30, 42, and 22 percent of 

 total fauna) . For station 1 the polychaete Scolelepis squamata was domi- 

 nant (55 percent) At station 2 the bivalve Donax texasianus (15 percent) , 

 the amphipod Haustorius n. sp., a new undescribed species (11 percent), and 

 the mysid Bowmaniella spp. (11 percent) were also dominant taxa. The amphi- 

 pods Aaanthohaustorius sp., Protohaustorius n. sp., and Pseudohaustorius n. 

 sp., were important faunal components at stations 3, 4, and 5. Table 13 

 presents the dominant fauna for stations 1 to 5 for the November-December 

 sampling. Table 14 lists the dominant fauna for stations CA and CB. These 

 stations were characterized by a lower level of oligomixity. The amphipod 

 Protohaustorius n. sp. (15 percent) was the most abundant species at station 

 CA; an unidentified nematode (22 percent) the amphipod Pseudoplatyischnopus 

 u. spp. (15 percent) and an unidentified oligochaete (14 percent) were 

 dominant at station CB. 



For May (Table 15) the polychaete Scolelepis squamata (90 percent) was 

 singly dominant at station 1 and was also abundant at station 2 (21 percent) . 

 Paraonls fulgens was again abundant at stations 3 (10 percent) , 4 (42 per- 

 cent) , and 5 (18 percent) . Also common at station 3 was the echinoderm 

 Mellita quinquiesperforata (15 percent), the amphipod Protohaustorius n. sp. 

 (13 percent), and the polychaete Spiophanes bowbyx (10 percent); at station 

 4 the amphipods Aaanthohaustorius sp. (8 percent) and Protohaustorius n. 

 sp. (9 percent) were common; and at station 5 the amphipod Protohaustorius 

 n. sp. (28 percent) and the polychaete Nephtys picta (7 percent) were 

 abundant. Stations CA and CB showed a higher level of oligomixity for May 

 than for November-December , but again it appeared lower than for the transect 

 stations. At station CA the amphipod Protohaustorius n. sp. (27 percent) 

 and the polychaete Myriochele oculata (14 percent) were abundant; at station 

 CB the bivalve Pitar simpsoni (35 percent) and the amphipods 

 Pseudoplatyischnopus -n. spp. (12 percent) and Protohaustorius n. sp. 

 (12 percent) were the most numerous. 



33 



