We designed an experimental gradient tank to examine salinity preferences of juvenile brown shrimp and white shrimp. Although no strong pattern of salinity avoidance was apparent, brown shrimp showed a general preference for salinities from 17-35 psu, and exhibited avoidance at the extreme low salinities along the gradient. Results for white shrimp were not statistically significant, but white shrimp did not appear to avoid lower salinities (18 psu) as brown shrimp did. There was no effect of water temperature on the observed selection patterns for either species.

Estuaries are important in supporting much of the fishery production in the Gulf of Mexico, but this support appears to vary widely among different estuarine systems. The main objective of this project was to assess variability among estuaries in supporting fishery species and other abundant nekton. The project is part of a larger effort of the National Marine Fisheries Service Galveston Laboratory to develop a Comparative Assessment of Gulf Estuarine Systems (CAGES).

Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) are a commercially important fishery species of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Young shrimp settle in estuarine salt marsh habitats during the juvenile phase of their life history, and processes that occur during their residency affect growth, survival, and recruitment of sub-adults to the fishery. We developed an agent based model that simulates the cumulative effects of temperature, salinity, and access to emergent marsh vegetation on juvenile brown shrimp growth and survival.

Nekton in the northern Gulf of Mexico often depend on marsh habitat and estuarine nursery areas during their life history, but patterns of habitat use and the underlying processes that drive these patterns are not fully understood. We examined small-scale (1-50 m) patterns of habitat use in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, between 2002 and 2006 by collecting nekton with a 1-m2 drop sampler.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most ecologically and economically valuable marine ecosystems in the world and is affected by a variety of natural and anthropogenic phenomena including climate, hurricanes, coastal development, agricultural runoff, oil spills, and fishing. These complex and interacting stressors, together with the highly dynamic nature of this ecosystem, present challenges for the effective management of its resources.

The purpose of this study is to understand how oceanographic factors affect the annual recruitment success of gag grouper. We use the Connectivity Modeling System (Paris et al. 2013), an individual-based model which estimates the movement of particles in a 3-D velocity field, and has the capacity to simulate complex behaviors such as those displayed by fish larvae. Simulated gag grouper larvae are tracked from their release sites in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico to suitable settlement habitat, given the specified biological parameters.

This data set contains the data inputs and estimates produced by stock assessment models

The database contains a summary of the number of sea turtles that have been rehabilitated by the NOAA Galveston Laboratory. Data includes the number of each species rehabilitated and the year in which each sea turtle was rehabilitated.

Study compared nekton densities and community composition in a natural mixed seagrass bed dominated by Halodule wrightii (shoalgrass) with those found in three shoalgrass transplant sites and adjoining sand habitats in western Galveston Bay, Texas, USA. Communities were monitored for 36 months (1994-1997) post-transplant. Total densities of fishes, decapods, annelids, benthic crustaceans, and most dominant species were significantly higher in natural seagrass than in transplanted shoalgrass or sand habitats during most sampling periods.

Brown shrimp, Farfantepenaeus aztecus, and white shrimp, Litopenaeus setiferus, were held were held under natural light conditions before experiments. Experiments were conducted in twelve rectangular tanks (58 cm x 149 cm) under fluorescent lighting (7-10 microEinsteins/sec/sq m). Shrimp were placed in randomly-assigned tanks the day before observations were initiated at 0730 h, the lights were turned on, and observations of thepercentage of shrimp burrowed ( 1/2 of their body beneath the substrate) were recorded hourly (starting at 0830 h) throughout the daylight hours.