University of the Pacific Masthead Logo Scholarly Commons University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1966 Survey of the fishes of Tomales Bay with notes on the life history of the white seaperch, Phanerodon furcatus Girard Tapan Banerjee University of the Pacific Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons Recommended Citation Banerjee, Tapan. (1966). Survey of the fishes of Tomales Bay with notes on the life history of the white seaperch, Phanerodon furcatus Girard. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1622 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SURVEY OF THE r,ISHES OF TOlYI.ALES BAY WITH NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE WHITE SEAPERCH, ' fijANE~QQQN fURCA~US GIRARD ' . ,.\ A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Zoology University of the Pacific . ... ... ...: ~.· ( . In P~~tial ·Fulfillment of' t he B.<~quireme nts for- tl}.e Degree \1 , ·- I • • l'laster of Science .. t "· ----·w-.----- ·-- · by June 1966 . ' . ~ . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Dr. J. w. Hedgpeth and Dr. E. H. Smith, the former and. present directors of the Pacific Marine Station, under whose guidance this invest- igation was carried out. I would also like to mention my gratitude to Mro S. I. Follett, Mrs. Lillian Dempster and Dr . John Hopkirk of the California Academy of Science, for help in the identification of some t~depool fishes, and for supplying informati on on the r eported species of Tomales B~y. Hy t ha::.11{S are duo to the }1a rino llesonrces Department of the California Fish and Game , for sendi ng me t he data on fish landing from the bay f or the years 1955-64o I am thankful to Nr. Frank Vilicich, the capta in of BL9.§. PacJ..D\£..a , for helping wJ. th the collect­ ing of fisho i ' I t 1'<"•~• !'1'<;~.,.., •. ..,. .....-~·: ""' • ''1'"' '"t'~ ···~ ~ -""' ""'·TC.· ··~~'"""""{0~1'1•';>-·...,-,.~-:)· iv TA BLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST C? TABLES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • vi LIST C? ?IG1JRES • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • vii I ~'EC!:Jt; CTI O N • • • • • • 0 • • 0 • 0 • • • 0 • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 PROCED"Jl1FS • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 :~t:eth od s and Equipment • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • 2 Hydrogr a phic Data •••••••••••••••• • ••••••••••• o•••• 4 DESCRI PTION OF THE STUDY AREA • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • 5 Genera l Hydr ogr a phy • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • 0 • • • 0 • • • • • • • • 0 • • • 5 Tributaries • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • 6 Geol ogy • •• •o• •••• •• ••• • •••••••••• • • c• • •o • • •••• • ••• 7 Vege tation • •••• • • •• • •••• •••o• ••• • •••• G• ••••• •••• • • 7 Fishirlg s·tatlOl'.l.S ···· ·· ··~~t • • •• o •o ••oo o ••• • o · · · ···· 9 FISHEHIES OF r.rmtALES BAY ~ • 0 • $ • ~ • 0 • b • • • u • 0 • 0 • • • • • • 0 & • • • 10 F:l. s h o • • ~ ~ • ~ o • • • • • o ~ ~ • • • • • • • o • o o a • • • • & 4 s • o • o • t a • • o • SQr1E FISHES PRESEW.r I N TOHALES BAY • • 0 • 0 • • 0 • • • • 0 • • 0 • 0 • • 13 ANALYSIS Of' CATCH l"ROivl BE.A CH SEINE ~ o • • • o • ~ e • • • • ~ o • • • ~ • 34 Number of Fi shes per Haul ••••• • G• • •••e•••••••·~··• 34 Seining Rela tion with Tide o•• ••••••• • •••• • oo•••o•• 34 Re lationship of Temper a ture to White Seaperch Catch ••••• o • o •••• • • • e , • f' • o e a •• • ., • o • o o • • o • • o • • • • • J5 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Continued PAGE LIFE HISTORY OF Phanerodon furcatus • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • J6 . Description of the Species ••••••••••••••••••••••••• J6 METHODS AND MATERIAL • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • & • • • • • • J8 RESULTS OF THE LIFE HISTORY STUDY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41 Length Frequency Distrib~tion •••••••·•··~···••••••• 41 Age and G:rowth • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • 41 Length and Weight Relationship •••••••••••••••o••••• 4J Embryonic Life ••••••••••••••••o••••••••••••·•••o••• 44 Fecundity •••••••••••••• o.............................. 1+6 Season • • • • • ~ • • • • a • • • • • • • • o • 9 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • o • • • • • • • Sex Ratio • • • • t • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • a • • • • • • • • • • o • • • • • • L~7 I<'ood. • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • & • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 ~ • ~ • • • • • • 48 Parasites • 0 • • • 0 • ~ • • • • • • • • • • ~ • • 0 c • 0 • ~ ~ , • 0 , ~ ~ • • • • • • • • 48 DISCUSSION t t t 0 t 0 $ t t t • t • t 0 • t t t 0 t 0 ~ t G t t t t t 0 t 0 0 ~ • C 0 0 0 t t t 0 t SUMI1ARY • • • • 0 0 • • • • 0 • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • 0 • • $ • • 0 • • • • • 3 • ~ • • 0 • 54 LITERATURE CITED ~ • 0 0 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~ • • • • • • • • 0 • REFERENCES • • • • • • o e • • • • ~ • • • ~ • • • • • • • o • t t • • o ~ • a • & o • • ~ Q • • • • 59 -~ I i t I I I vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Depth and Surface Temperature of Each Station on Different Fishing Days ••••••••••••••••••••• 62 II. Tomales Bay Landing in Pounds, 1955 to 1964 ••••• 64 III. Quantity of Different Species of Fish Landed from Tomales Bay During 1955 to 1964 •••••••••• 65 IV. A Summary of Catch Records for Each Fishing Station in Tomales Bay •••••••••••••••••••••••• 66 v. Seining Success in Relation to Tides in Tomales Bay • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6·7 · VI. Relationship of Catch of Phanerodon furcatus with Temperature and 'l1ide from Ja nuary 1.3 to .July 2 , 196 5! j_n Tomales Bay • • • • • • • • • . .. • • • • • •.• 68 VII. Ag0 ~·Length ReJ.e:liionship of Female White Sea. perch by the Scale Reading Method. •••• • •••••••••••••• 69 VIII. Age-Length Relationship of Male White Seaperch by the Scale Reading Method ••••••$··~··· ··· ··· 70 IX. Relationship Between Length Increase and Age of Vlhi te Seapel'Ch •••• o . o •• • ••• , • o •• ••••• " •••••• o,. 71 X. Nea:n Heights at 10 mm. Intervals of Forked Length of \.fhi te See.perch ••• • ••• • •• •••• • • •••• •• 72 XI. Relationship Between the Number of Embryos and the Length of the Female •••••••••••·~······ ··• 7.3 XII.. Per Cent · of Male and Female v/hl te Seaperch Catch from .January 13 to July 28 , 1965 ••••o •G• •••••• 75 r. ~~,.,....zt~~ -r~ ~ .,,--:r,,.. f vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Fishing Stations Along Tomales Bay •••••••e••••••• 77 2. Scoop Net •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 78 J. Row Boat Used for Beach Seining •••••••••••••••••• 78 4. Beach Seine Hauling •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 78 5. Catch from Tomales Bay in Millions of Pound (1957-1964) .......•....... ··•··········•··•·•·· 79 6. Relationship Between Catch per Haul and Tempera- ture for fhanerodon furc~ ••••••••••••••••••• 80 7. Length l<'requencies of 19 Embryos from a 259 mm. Female White Seaperch ••••••••• o •••••••·· ~ ··•••e 80 8 . Length F:t'CCj_u::::ncy Distrib'..ttion of lofhi te Scc.pcrch Caught from 1.rGmales Bay •••••••••• ~ •••••••••• ~ •• 81 9a Average Length at Ages Ze ro to Seven of Nale and Femal e Hhite Seaperch •••••••••••••••••• •• •••••• 81 10~ Height and Length Re lationship of Hhite Seaperch • 82 11. Nu....T'lber of Vl hi te Seaperch Embryos Related to Le ngth o~ Female Parent , Tr end Line Fitt ed by Eye ~·• •• 82 12. Ave~age Monthly Growth of White Seaperch c·oryos · · · · ·· ·········••o ••• .,.• ••o•· ····· · ···-·· 83 INTRODUCTION Tomales Bay is situated in Marin County, about 40 miles north-west of San Francisco. This shallow bay averages about 1.5 miles in width and is about 12.6 miles in length, with an average depth of 12 feet (Johnson, Bryant and Hedgpeth, 1961). Oyster and herring comprise the main fishing industry, although the bay contributes a great amount of perch, smelt, halibut, and shark. Gill and seine nets are the most common gear used by fishermen. The primary objectives of this s tud_y were: (1) to determine the species composition of the bay, and the rel ation between seining success at different locali­ ties and such factors as tides a nd t emperature; (2) to describe the ltfe history of J>ha...!!IT.2£2n .~q_a t 'l§_ Girard, the most con~on perch of the bay. •. 2 PROCEDURES Methods apd Egui~ment Twenty-five stations were selected for collection of fishes from Tomales Bay (Fig. 1). Two types of fishing gear were used. For the tidepools (Station 1 and Station 2), an ordinary scoop net made of nylon netting with a mesh size of 1 em. was used. The length of the handle was 5 ft., and the diameter of the ring was 12 in. (Fig. 2). Fishes were caught by scooping the net in the tidepools. A beach seine was used at the r est of the Stations (J-25). This net was hung from a cork line at the top and attached to a l ead line on the bottom. At the end of the wlngs of the net, th(~ cork a nd lead. lines were f e. s t ent:d to a. shor t stout pol e o The hauling line , 'ithich i'fas a pproxi - mat ely 35 f t. i n l ength, wa s e:ttached to the t op a nd bot t om of the pole by a short br idle. The l ength of the beach seine net (head rope ) l'Tas 1 50 f t ., and