Changes in total body caloric content were probably related to develop- 

 mental stages and changes in diet. Adult fish often had significantly higher 

 weight-specific caloric contents than juvenile fish. Monthly or seasonal 

 variations in caloric content of the organic matter of pinfish had little 

 influence on the caloric content within the various sizes of the fish. 



Correlation was significant between fish biomass, temperature, and Zostera 

 biomass. Fish biomass was highest when temperature and grass biomass were at 

 a maximum. In general, water depth over the beds had little effect on the 

 standing crop of fish within the bed, but cooler waters which occurred at 

 night had a large effect. 



2. ADAMS, S.M., "The Ecology of Eelgrass Zosteva rmvina (L), Fish Communi- 

 ties. II. Functional Analysis," Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and 

 Ecology, Vol. 22, No. 3, June 1976, pp. 293-311. 



Production and respiration of fish communities in two eelgrass beds in two 

 different shallow estuarine systems (Phillips Island and Bogue Sound) near 

 Beaufort, North Carolina, have been estimated for 1971-72. Annual production 

 was 21.7 kilocalories per square meter in each bed. Pinfish accounted for 45 

 and 68 percent of the production in the Phillips Island and Bogue Sound beds, 

 respectively. Annual community respiration was 57.9 and 69.7 kilocalories per 

 square meter in the two beds, with pinfish accounting for 62.6 and 26.7 per- 

 cent of the total in the Bogue Sound and Phillips Island beds, respectively. 

 Estimation of the annual food energy consumed by the eelgrass fish community 

 using the Winberg and daily ration methods gave values within 6 percent of 

 each other. 



Energy turnover was high (2.8), and the efficiency of energy dissipation 

 low for the two eelgrass fish communities. High ecological efficiencies of 

 0.24 and 0.23 and the high overall efficiency of the eelgrass system 

 (production-solar radiation) of 0.0051 and 0.0086 percent Indicate that the 

 eelgrass beds are efficient systems for converting consumed energy and solar 

 radiation into fish biomtiaa, 



3. ADAMS, S.M., "Feeding Ecology of Eelgrass Fish ComaMnxti.es ," Transactions of 

 the American Fisheries Society, Vol. 105, No. 4, July 1976, pp. 514-519. 



The principal foods of fishes from eelgrass {.Zostera marina) beds in 

 shallow-water estuaries near Beaufort, North Carolina, were detritus, plank- 

 tonic copepods, and epifaunal crustaceans. Foods produced within the eelgrass 

 beds (e.g., crustaceans, gastropods, and detritus) probably accounted for 

 about 56 percent by weight of the diet of the eelgrass fish communities. 



Pinfish iLagodon rhombiodes) under 35 millimeters fed primarily on plank- 

 tonic copepods, thereafter detritus gradually replaced copepods. Pinfish 

 about 70 millimeters long became more omnivorous and consumed a greater pro- 

 portion of plant material and polychaete worms. Changes in feeding habits may 

 have been responsible for significant differences in the weight-specific 

 caloric contents observed between three size groups of pigfish and pinfish. 

 Only one species fed in the seagrass beds at night, but biomass of all fish 

 was twice as high at night than in the day. 



The eelgrass fish communities are not food-limited because the total annual 

 food production in the beds is greater than the total annual food consumption 

 by the macrofauna. 



