Marine Fishes
by
Frank J. Schwartz, William W. Hassler, John W. Reintjes,
and Michael W, Street
Introduction
The problem of defining or designating rare and endangered organ¬
isms that live on land or in confined aquatic systems is far easier than
making such decisions for the inhabitants of open estuarine or ocean
systems. In the latter situations a species nay be a member of one or
more faunal zones, a factor that made the work of this committee far
more difficult than it would have been had we been dealing with less
continuous systems.
North Carolina is situated on the western Atlantic Ocean near the
interface of two or three faunal zones. Fishes of northern or colder
water regimes usually occur from Cape Ha tt eras northward, while southern
forms are members of or can be transported into the area by the inshore
Carolinian, or offshore Caribbean, water masses. The latter is greatly
influenced by the northerly flowing Gulf Stream. Local environmental
factors of winds, tides, and currents likewise have direct or subtle
roles in determining what species may be within the political boundaries
of North Carolina. World climatic and environmental changes also in¬
fluence the entire North Carolina marine fish fauna.
It was after examination and full realization of the above that the
marine fishes committee embarked on the task of designating the endanger¬
ed and threatened forms of North Carolina. Problems of category defin¬
ition arose, too, for there were differences in those available to us or
within those used by each committee member. We had to decide whether to
go by the strict definitions of Miller (1972), the IUCN Redbook (1969), or
the definitions suggested by the Steering Committee for this Symposium.
We decided to adopt variations of these as they best applied to the marine
species. One notable addition is use of the designation Depleted, since
marine stocks are widely exploited commercially.
Other problems that arose had to do with those species known by only
one or a few specimens in North Carolina but abundant elsewhere, those
known only seasonally, and range extension records. For those forms whose
southern or northern range extended to North Carolina we evaluated their
total population status, 'lids procedure permitted us to eliminate 200 to
300 species from consideration, fishes with northern range limits here
like tarpon, snook, ladyfish, and others. Also, a number of species were
simply seasonal transients or chance occurrences as a result of water
temperatures warming or cooling. Examples in part would be bumpers, some
snappers, and other fishes. This also eliminated forms that were regular
components of oceanic habitats, but which occurred accidentally or spor¬
adically after water mass shifts. Examples would be deep-sea fishes and
some flying fishes.
Out task in evaluating status also extended to examining the direct
or indirect effects of nan's activities on marine fishes. Given that we
have drastically altered the estuaries and possible food sources for such
fishes as sturgeons and herrings, were these species really rare, endan¬
gered, threatened, or what? Was man's increased offshore fishing efforts
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