Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries Volume I: Dafa Summaries
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Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries Volume I: Dafa Summaries September 1992 U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Senlice The Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) Division of NOAA's Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment (ORCA) was created in response to the need for comprehensive information on the effects of human activities on the Nation's coastal ocean. The SEA Division performs assessments of the estuarine and coastal environments and of the resources of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In June 1985, NOAA began a program to develop a comprehensive information base on the life history, relative abundance and distribution of fishes and invertebrates in estuaries throughout the Nation (Monaco 1986). The Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) program is conducted jointly by the SEA Division and laboratories of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Pt. Adams (Hammond), OR; Galveston, TX; and Beaufort, NC laboratories have compiled information for the contiguous West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Southeast regions. Data for the Northeast are being compiled by NOAA's SEA Division, NMFS (Annapolis, MD), the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, and the University of Massachusetts. To date, the program has compiled data for 115 species found in 83 estuaries. Six reports are now available free upon request (see below). This report, Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries, Volume I: Data Summaries, revises and replaces earlier reports for Texas (Monaco et al. 1989), the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Williams et al. 1990), and Central Gulf of Mexico (Czapla et al. 1991). Three salinity zones as defined in Volume 1 of NOAA's National Estuarine lnventoly Data Atlas (NOAA 1985) provided the spatial framework for organizing information on species distribution and abundance within each estuary. These salinity zones are tidal fresh (0.0 to 0.5 ppt), mixing (0.5 to 25 ppt), and seawater (>25ppt). The primary data developed for each species include spatial distribution by salinity zone, temporal distribution by month, and relative abundance by lifestage, e.g., adult, spawning, juvenile, larva, and egg. In addition, adetailed estuarine life history summary is written for each species. Additional information on this or other programs of NOAA's Strategic Environmental Assessments Division is available from: Dr. Mark E. Monaco NOANNOS Biogeography Program 1305 East-West Hwy., 9th Floor, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Phone (301) 713-3028 x160, Fax (301) 713-4384 Reports and reprints available from NOAA's Estuarine Living Marine Resources program include: Monaco, M.E., et al. 1990. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in west coast estuaries, Vol. I: data summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 4. Strategic Assessment Branch, NOSINOAA, Rockville, MD. 240 p. Bulger, A.J., et al. 1990. A proposed estuarine classification: analysis of species salinity ranges. ELMR Rep. No. 5. Strategic Assessment Branch, NOSINOAA, Rockville, MD. 28 p. Emmett, R.L., et al. 1991. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in west coast estuaries, Vol. 11: species life history summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 8. NOANNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 329 p. Nelson, D.M., et al. 1991. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in southeast estuaries. ELMR Rep. No. 9. NOANNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 177 p. Monaco, M.E., et al. 1992. Assemblages of U.S. west coast estuaries based on the distribution of fishes. Journal of Biogeography 19: 251-267. Nelson, D.M. (editor). 1992. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries, Vol. I: data summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 10. NOANNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 273 p. Pattillo, M.E., et al. In prep. Distributionand abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries, Vol. II: species life history summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 11. NOAAINOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries Volume I: Data Summaries Project Team David M. Nelson (editor)*, Mark E. Monaco, and Christopher D. Williams Strategic Environmental Assessments Division** Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment National Ocean Service Silver Spring, MD 20910 Thomas E. Czapla and Mark E. Pattillo Galveston Laboratory Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service Galveston, TX 77551 Linda Coston-Clements, Lawrence R. Settle, and Elizabeth A. lrlandi Beaufort Laboratory Southeast Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service Beaufort, NC 2851 6 ELMR Report Number 10 September 1992 * contact for copies of this report. ** formerly Strategic Assessment Branch. This report should be cited as: Nelson, D.M. (editor). 1992. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries, Volume I: data summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 10. NOANNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 273 p. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Rationale...........................................................................................................................1.. Data Collection and Organization ..............................................................................2.. Selection of estuaries .................................................................................................. 2 Selection of species ....................................................................................................... 4 Data sheets ................................................................................................................. 5 Data verification ............................................................................................................ 6 Results ............................................................................................................................6.... Presencelabsence......................................................................................................... 6 Data summary tables .................................................................................................... 6 Data Content and Quality ..................................................................................................6 Analysis of data content and quality .............................................................................. 7 Variability in space and time .......................................................................................... 8 Life history notes ........................................................................................................... 8 Life history summaries ................................................................................................... 11 Life history tables ........................................................................................................... 11 Use of ELMR Data ..............................................................................................................11 Classifying and comparing estuaries ............................................................................. 11 Linkages to marine ecosystems .................................................................................... 12 East Coast Strategic Assessment ................................................................................. 12 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. 12 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................... 13 Data Summary Tables ........................................................................................................ 15 Table 3. Presencetabsence of ELMR species ............................................................... 16 Table 4. Spatial distribution and relative abundance ..................................................... 19 Table 5 . Temporal distribution ...................................................................................... 61 Table 6 . Data reliability .................................................................................................. 151 Appendices......................................................................................................................... 193 Appendix 1. National Estuarine Inventory Map of Mobile Bay ...................................... 194 Appendix 2. Table of references and personal communications .................................. 195 Appendix 3 . Reviewers and personal communications ................................................ 226 Appendix 4 . References .........................................................................................230.... Figure 1. ELMR study regions and regional research laboratories Figure 2. Major steps to complete the Gulf of Mexico ELMR study Figure 3. ELMR Gulf of Mexico estuaries Figure 4. Example of a specieslestuary data sheet: spotted seatrout in Mobile Bay Figure 5. Mean data reliability by estuary Figure 6. Mean data reliability by salinity zone Figure 7. Mean data reliability by species Figure 8. Mean data reliability