(1953–1954) Segment Completion Report: Inventory of Fish Species Present in Lake Corpus Christi

--- Page 1 --- TITLE OBJECTIVES Christi. PROCEDURE STATE Texas PROJECT NO. F-6-R-1, Job B=3 PERIOD July 1, 1953-June 30, L395 Segment Completion Report by Alvin PFlury Inventory of Fish Species Present in Lake Corpus Christi. To determine the species present and their relative numbers in Lake Corpus a. Netting Collections i. Nine, instead of the five originally planned, stations were selec- ted on Lake Corpus Christi to represent different locations and types of habitat. Experimental gill nets composed of 25 foot sec- tions of 3/4", 1", 13", 2" and 3" square mesh were set each month at each station except when stations were inaccessible due to low water or water hyacinth blocks. A 300 by 8 ft. gill net with 3" square mesh was set seven nights and five 100 x O ft. nets of 2" and 3" square mesh were set. Two <¢" fyke nets were set during the period and three hoop nets with one-inch square mesh were set. Of the hoop nets, two were baited with cut fish and set in deep water while one was unbaited, set near shore with fykes sewed onto the front hoop. All fish taken in nets were taken back to the boat landing and weighed, measured, sexed and parasites noted. Scales were not collected for age readings as previous inspections of scales have shown that age cannot be determined by this method in fish from Lake Corpus Christi. Stomachs of sport and predacious fishes were tagged and preserved in formalin for stomach analysis when such stomachs had food in them. b. Seining Collections Lis 65 seining collections were made on the nine beaches selected near each of the netting stations. Seining was done with a 30 x 6 £o., a mesh bag seine or a 12 x 1h ft. commonsense seine, depending on conditions. Specimens taken were usually preserved in formalin and later counted in the laboratory but when large numbers of fish were taken, many were counted and recorded at the beach and dis- carded, with only a sample collection being preserved. In some months it was impossible to seine some of the beaches because low water levels or blocks of hyacinths made them inaccessible. --- Page 2 --- RESULTS SUMMARY Lake Corpus Christi. 26 Data collected in netting and seining were recorded on Fish Cards and collection sheets. a. Netting Collections Le 2. There were 2,088 specimens of 17 species collected from the 102 overnight experimental net sets. The 300 ft. three-inch mesh net took 116 fish of nine spe- eles while the 100 ft. two and three-inch mesh nets took 4, fish of seven species. The two fyke net sets accounted for 70 fish of ten species an apparent duplication of collections made by seine. The three hoop nets took only 36 fish of four species. Further efforts with these nets baited with cottonseed cake and left out for several days are expected to give better re- sults. Data collected on the collection sheets were filed in the laboratory and "K" factors figured for each fish. Stomachs collected are now being analyzed. Detailed tables giving these data will be prepared for the Job Completion Report. b. Seining Collections lL. A total of 17,946 specimens, representing 26 species was tabulated from the seining collections. These data will be analyzed in the Job Completion Report to try to determine the relative and seasonal abundance of the various species. The attached Fish List shows the number of each species taken by experimental gill nets and by seining at the sta- tions and the percent of the total collected for each species. Monthly netting and seining collections were made from nine stations in Experimental and two and three-inch mesh gill nets, one-fourth inch mesh fyke nets, one-inch mesh hoop nets, thirty by six ft. one-fourth inch bag seines and Common Sense seines were used. Fish taken were tabulated and the larger species were weighed, measured, sexed and parasites noted. they were full from game and predacious species. 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