The ecology of eelgrass meadows in the Pacific Northwest: A ...

Figure 18. Flounders rnoving into transplanted eelgrass, Puget Sound.
species, particularly juveniles of striped
seaperch, padded sculpin, crcscer~t gunnel,
drld Enqllsh sole. Seasonal maxima in
abundance and species rlchriess occurred In
sumnier and autumn. Fish clbundance
increased at night as in North Carolina
and the Chesapeake Bay. The habitat
complexity, l.e., eelyrass density, its
leaf canopy and rhizo~~ie-root penetration
irito the substrate, ard epiphyte coinplex,
wds related to fish abundance and species
richness (Brown 19b2). None of the fish
were detritivores. All were carnivores,
except the buffdl0 sculpirl which contain~z
- Ulva in 58% of its stomach contents.
In northern Puyet Sound, bllllcr et al.
(1975) reported 04 tish species In
eelgrass. C2f this number, three sprne
sticklebacks, staghvrn sculpin, shlner
perch, Paclf ic Ilerrlng, Chlnook salmon,
and surf srnelt were dominant. 'rhey
c.!ricludrxi that the eelgrass fish td.m was
the rictiest, most auundarlt pelagic flsh
tauria of any habrtat sampled.
In Yaquina estuary, Oregon, Bayer (1961)
collected 3J fish specles in an aclyrass
meadow, of which four were dominant. He
described seasonality in species number
but also found seasonality i n
developmental state. The s~nallest size
stages were most abundant in eelgrass in
August and January-Play, but no diurnal
changes in species were noted.
Many studies have been done on the
dbut~dance, seasonality, aru dependence on
eelyrass of the Pacific i-lerrlny. 'fils is
obviously due to tne com~nereial value of
the f lsh as balt for sprt sal~lon fishing
alld the dse of eggs as roe. mth Pdcific
herring mi smelt depslt eggs on eelyrass
as well as algae. 'Illis depsitlon occurs
througtlout the Pcicl ilc Nortllwest region.
Just to establish the value of trie crop of
eggs, Webb and iiourston (1979) reported
that for british Colu~nbia alone the roe
herring lndustry took U1,WdW tons
(7~,636,3tj4 kg) In 1976-77 w~th a landed
value of $29 mrllion. 'Phe food flsrlery
took allother 7, wdd tons (o, 363,63b kg)
worth 3b.9 mllllon. The peak f rshery
occurred from 1953-54 to 1904-G5 when
catches fluctuated from 17b,uc)3 tons
(154,545,455 kg) to 26d,u36 tons