McBride et al.: Nursery habitats for Elops saurus 
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Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 
Month 
Figure 4 
Monthly catch-per-unit-of-effort (mean number per haul ±2 standard 
error bars) for ladyfish, Elops saurus, collected with 21-m and 23-m 
seines at fixed stations during 1989-1995 in Tampa Bay or 1990-95 
in the Indian River Lagoon. (A) Little Manatee River (early- and 
mid-metamorphic larvae are excluded); (B) Gulf of Mexico beaches; 
(C) Indian River Lagoon leptocephali (i.e. only early- and mid-met- 
amorphic larvae); (D) Indian River Lagoon late-metamorphic and 
juvenile ladyfish (i.e. early- and mid-metamorphic larvae excluded). 
November (1990). All ladyfish ranged in length from 20 
to 550 mm SL (Fig. 5). Length-frequency analyses sug- 
gested that there were three age classes: age-0 fish over- 
wintering at 200-300 mm SL, age-1 fish overwintering 
at 300-400 mm SL, and age-2+ at sizes of 400 mm SL or 
larger (Fig. 3). 
Nearly all ladyfish <200 mm SL were collected in meso- 
haline and oligohaline areas of rivers (zone F; Fig. 6). Ear- 
ly- and mid-metamorphic larvae were collected at poly- 
haline salinities (mean=20 ppt, Fig. 7); these larvae had 
probably entered Tampa Bay recently. In Little Manatee 
River, ladyfish were most common (59.7% of the total in- 
dividuals) in the mesohaline zone (5.1-18 ppt), less com- 
mon in the oligohaline zone (31.9%; 0. 5-5.0 ppt), uncom- 
mon in the polyhaline zone (6.7%; 18.1-30 ppt), and rare 
in fresh water (1.7%; <0.5 ppt). Abundance in oligohaline 
waters peaked during June, about one month later than 
peak abundance in mesohaline waters. 
