Study of Populations of Juvenile Shrimp in the Matagorda Bay Area - Study of Juvenile Shrimp Populations

Commercial shrimp bay landings for Matagorda and Lavaca Bays are dicussed. Seasonal occurrence and abundance of brown and white shrimp are presented for the Matagorda Bay area, March - December, 1963. The first wave of postlarval and early juvenile stages of brown shrimp (P. aztecus) appeared in the nursery areas in early April. Two waves were detected later in May and June. The largest sample sizes of white shrimp (P. setiferus) were collected in August followed by a second wave of greater magnitude in November. The samples reflect a pronounced population dropoff in September for both species.