Distribution And Abundance Of Fishes And Invertebrates In Gulf Of Mexico Estuaries Data Summaries PDF Download

Excerpt from Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries, Vol. 2: Species Life History Summaries This is the second of two volumes that present information on the spatial and temporal distributions, relative abundance, and life history characteristics of 44 fish and invertebrate species in 31 Gulf of Mexico estuaries. This volume contains life history summaries for each species. Each summary identifies the life history characteristics that describe a species' occurrence in these estuaries. These summaries were developed to complement data presented in Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries, Volume I; Data Summaries (Nelson et al. 1992), hereafter referred to as Volume I. The summaries presented here are not a complete treatise on all aspects of each species' biology, but they provide a concise account of the most important physical and biological factors known to affect a species' occurrence within estuaries. As a supplement to the life history summaries, their content was augmented with additional physical and biological criteria and condensed into three life history tables. These tables present life history characteristics for each species along with behavioral traits and preferred habitats. This report is a product of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (Noaa) Estuarine Living Marine Resources (Elmr) Program (see inside front cover), a cooperative study of the National Ocean Service (Nos), the National Marine Fisheries Service (Nmfs), and other research institutions. The objective of the Elmr program is to develop a consistent data base on the distribution, abundance, and life history characteristics of important fishes and invertebrates in the Nation's estuaries. This data base contains the relative abundance and monthly occurrence of each species' life stage by estuary for three to five salinity zones identified in Noaa's National Estuarine Inventory (Nei) Program (Noaa 1985b).The nationwide data base is divided into five study regions (Figure 1), and contains information for 153 fish and invertebrate species found in 122 U. S. estuaries. Estuaries are among the Earth's most productive natural systems and are important nursery areas that provide food, refuge from predation, and valuable habitat for many species (Gunter 1967, Joseph 1973, Weinstein 1979, Mann 1982). Estuarine-dependent organisms that support important commercial and recreational fisheries include sciaenids, clupeids, shrimps, and crabs. In spite of the well-documented importance of estuaries to fishes and invertebrates, few consistent and comprehensive data bases exist which allow examinations of the relationships between estuarine species found in or among groups of estuaries. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.