450 
Fishery Bulletin 99(3) 
During autumn, when age-0 fish were <300 mm SL, 
they began to move out of the rivers (Fig. 8). Fish mea- 
suring 170-360 mm SL (5-95 percentile; n= 55 fish) were 
found at the mouth of the Little Manatee River during the 
winter. Large concentrations of age-0 ladyfish were also 
found at other river mouths, near the dredged (>12 m) 
portions of the Alafia River, and near the mouth of Tam- 
pa Bay. There was a sudden pulse of ladyfish along Gulf 
of Mexico beaches during September-October (Fig. 4B). 
These were juvenile age-0 ladyfish measuring 219-260 
mm SL (5-95 percentile; ft =126). Only 2 of 158 individu- 
als collected at Gulf beaches were smaller than 178 mm 
SL. The absence of larval ladyfish in shallow Gulf beach 
habitats contrasted strongly with the abundance of larval 
ladyfish in riverine habitats of Tampa Bay. 
Indian River Lagoon 
A total of 2916 ladyfish were captured in 3791 21.3-m 
seine hauls, 2118 trawl hauls, and 815 gillnet sets (Table 
2). The seasonal pattern of arrival was similar to that 
in Tampa Bay. Early- and mid-metamorphic larvae were 
much better represented (28% or n=815) in the Indian 
River Lagoon than in Tampa Bay (0.2% or n=14), and 
these leptocephali were present from at least December 
to May (Fig. 4C). Late-metamorphic larvae were found in 
many months throughout the year, but they were most 
abundant during spring (Figs. 4D and 9). All ladyfish col- 
lected in the Indian River Lagoon ranged from 20 to 600 
mm SL. Age-0 fish reached a modal length during winter 
(i.e. 250-270 mm SL), similar to that observed in Tampa 
Bay. Age-1 ladyfish appeared to overwinter at a mode of 
about 350 mm SL, and a small number of age-2+ were 
probably present as postulated for Tampa Bay. 
Ladyfish <100 mm SL were more common in the Indian 
River basin than in the Banana River basin, and fish >300 
mm SL were more common in the Banana River basin than 
in the Indian River basin (Fig. 10). Juveniles first occupied 
upper mesohaline and lower polyhaline salinities at sizes 
of about 75 mm SL, and they remained at such salinities 
until reaching about 300 mm SL (Fig. 7). In the Indian Riv- 
er Lagoon, the mean salinity occupied by ladyfish 75-125 
mm SL was about 5 ppt higher than in Tampa Bay, but 
mesohaline and oligohaline habitats are less common in 
