Survey of Fish Populations in the Inshore Gulf of Mexico off Texas

Abstract

Fish populations in the inshore Gulf of Mexico off Port Aransas, Texas, Port Mansfield and Port Isabel, Texas and briefly off Galveston, Texas, were surveyed for type, abundance and size with a flat otter trawl. In regular weekly samples, 25,044 fish of 89 species were caught in 100 otter trawl samples. Atlantic croaker, Micropogon undulatus; sand trout, Cynoscion nothus; moonfish, Vomer setapinnis; bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus; and shoal flounder Syacium gunteri, were the five most abundant species taken in depths ranging from 3 to 16 fathoms. These results indicate that enough trash fish may be caught during routine shrimp trawling to sustain a profitable fishery if a market develops. No attempt was made to evaluate the abundance of larger food or game fishes.