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NURSERY ROLE OF SEAGRASS MEADOWS IN THE UPPER AND LOWER REACHES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
Citation:
Heck, K. AND T. Thoman. NURSERY ROLE OF SEAGRASS MEADOWS IN THE UPPER AND LOWER REACHES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-88/052.
Description:
A two year trawling and gill-netting study of vegetated and unvegetated bottoms near Parson's Island, Maryland and near the mouth of the York River, Virginia was carried out to assess the nursery function of submerged vegetation for population of fishes and decapod crustaceans in the Chesapeake Bay. Results revealed that vegetated bottoms supported substantially larger numbers of decapods, but not fishes, than unvegetated substrates. Also, the lower Bay grassbed was an important nursery area for juvenile blue crabs, although neither of the grassbeds functioned as a nursery for commercially or recreationally valuable fishes.