Oxygen Requirements of Some Marine and
Anadromous Fishes, with Particular
Reference to Problems of Measurement
JAMES HOFF, Assistant Professor
Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts
MARK E. CHITTENDEN, Reseach Fellow
JAMES R. WESTMAN, Research Fellow
College of Agriculture and Environmental Science
Rutgers, the State University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
INTRODUCTION
Our coastal estuaries, and in some cases the rivers that enter them, have recently come into focus as environments that are vital to most of our Atlantic food
and game fishes at some stage -- or stages -- in their life cycles. This, of course,
is in addition to the long-recognized role of estuaries in shellfish production.
Unfortunately, the intricacies of these roles are not fully understood, and the
environmental changes as a result of dredging, deposition of spoil on the wetlands,
warmwater discharges from generating plants, sewage disposal and other forms of
pollution have aroused a national concern.
The present studies deal with measurements of the oxygen requirements of
three species of marine fishes and one species of anadromous fish -- all of which
make vital use of estuarine waters.
The species are as follows:
1. Menidia menidia, the common silversides, or "spearing" of our Atlantic
coast. This estuarine fish, used extensively as angling bait, would appear to be
the most attractive food of the bluefish and other game species that utilize our
middle Atlantic, coastal estuaries.
2. Pseudopleuronectes americanus, the blackback or winter flounder. This
fish commonly appears as fillet of flounder in chainstores throughout a sizeable
part of our nation. A favorite species for anglers of the middle and north Atlantic
coast during the spring months, it enters the estuaries during autumn, spawns there
during late winter, and slowly migrates to sea during spring. The young remain
in the estuary for a year or more before undergoing the annual seaward migration.
3. Spheroides maculatus, the northern swellfish or blowfish, also known as
"sea squab." This rather plebian character is also common in the market places
of the New York metropolitan area -- fresh or frozen — and is becoming increasingly popular with the hordes of dock anglers that frequent the coastal areas of the
middle Atlantic. This strange creature -- which can blow itself up with water or
air and resemble a small football -- invades the estuaries to spawn during late
spring and departs during early summer.
4. Alosa sapiddissima, the American shad, is an anadromous species -- pres-
- 125 -