A trawl study of an estuarine nursery area in Galveston Bay, with particular reference to penaeid shrimp.

Since the young of many marine forms in the Gulf of Mexico are found predominantly in the brackish inshore waters, the estuarine environment has been referred to as nursery areas. Because of the apparent importance of estuarine waters to several species of commercially important penaeid shrimp, a study was conducted at Clear Lake, Texas, to describe the major populations of fishes and motile invertebrates that inhabit such an area. The seasonal occurrence, relative abundance, and size composition of each species was determined from 363 collections made with an otter trawl from January, 1958 through January, 1959. Of the nearly 52,000 specimens obtained during the study, most were not large enough to be considered adult. Although 12 species formed more than 98 percent of the total catch in terms of numbers, 3 species not only dominated the catch, but also monopolized the position of the most abundant species throughout the study.