A Framework for a Delaware Inland Bays Environmental Classification

Abstract

Since Delaware’s coastal bays have been highly eutrophied for at least twenty years and Maryland’s coastal bays are not nutrient stressed, dominance of the fish community in Delaware’s coastal bays by Fundulus sp. may be an indicator of nutrient stress. Maryland’s coastal bays are menhaden, spot, and anchovy dominated. The dominance of Fundulus sp. in a nutrient-stressed system relates to the hardy nature of these fishes, especially in low-oxygen conditions. Submerged aquatic vegetation as seagrasses (SAV) has been absent from the highly nutrient-stressed Delaware coastal bays for about twenty-five years. In contrast, SAV is still found in Maryland’s coastal bays. The loss of SAV as a habitat for young fish may also be contributing to the apparent species shift in Delaware’s coastal bays.