2.3. Quantifying the abundance of associated fishes and their nutrient
excretions
To quantitatively assess the abundance of fishes associated with
pelagic Sargassum, we designed and constructed a miniature purse
seine to capture pelagic juvenile and adult fishes in Sargassum windrows
(Hunter et al., 1966). The net was set from a small rigid inflatable
boat and used to sample Sargassumwindrows during research cruises in
May 1989 and May 1990 at three neritic locations in the Caribbean
region (two samplings near Saba in the eastern Caribbean; one sampling
in the Straits of Florida near Dry Tortugas; one sampling near
Glovers Reef, Belize; Fig. 2). At each location, a large Sargassum mat
(~3–4 m across) was approached, a sea anchor attached to the purse
seine deployed on the downwind side, and the Sargassum encircled in
a clockwise direction. The net was closed and pursed as quickly as