TRENT ET AL.: KING MACKEREL IN S< IUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



pirinus; silver seatrout, Cynoscion nothus; and other 

 fish species acceptable as food by king mackerel are 

 especially abundant during winter months in 10-30 

 fathom depths off Louisiana and east Texas (Moore 

 et al. 1970). Food studies of large king mackerel from 

 Louisiana indicate that sciaenids (seatrouts and 

 Atlantic croaker) are the dominant species of prey 

 during the winter and spring months (Saloman and 

 Naughton footnote 5). 



Sex Ratio 



We could not explain why the sex ratio favored 

 females. The ratios we observed may be real in that 

 more females than males are produced at spawning 

 or that mortality rates are higher for males than 

 females at sizes (< 400 mm FL) smaller than those we 

 observed. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Sincere appreciation is extended to the commercial 

 and recreational fishermen and members of 

 sportfishing organizations who contributed samples, 

 time, and information for this paper and to those who 

 critically reviewed the manuscript. We are especially 

 indebted to Raymond Groom, Jinx Martin, Dickie 

 Myers, Joan Browder, Ann Langes, Mike Parrack, 

 John Merriner, personnel of the Louisiana Wildlife 

 and Fisheries Commission, and the anonymous 

 reviewers of the Fisheries Bulletin. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Anonymous. 



1976. International Marine Angler. Newsl. Int. Game Fish 

 Assoc. Vol. 38, No. 3. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 

 Austin, C. B., J. A. Browder, R. D. Brugger, and J. C. Davis. 

 1978. Mackerel workshop report. Univ. Miami Sea Grant 

 Puhl. No. 14, 156 p. 

 Beardsley, G. L., Jr., and W. J. Richards. 



1970. Size, seasonal abundance, and length- weight relation 

 of some scombrid fishes from southeast Florida. U.S. 

 Fish Wildl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 595, 6 p. 

 Beaumariage, D. S. 



1973. Age, growth and reproduction of king mackerel, Scom- 

 bcromorus cavalla in Florida. Fla. Mar. Res. Publ. 1, 45 

 P 



Beverton, R. J. H., and S. J. Holt. 



1957. On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Fish. 

 Invest. Minist. Agric. Fish. Food. (G.B.), (Ser. II) 19. 

 533 p. 

 Deuel, D. G., and J. R. Clark. 



1968. The 1965 salt-water angling survey. U.S. Fish WildL 

 Serv., Resour. Publ. 67, 51 p. 

 Harris, A. R. 



1974. Commercial kingfishing off Florida requires special 

 gear-, techniques. Nat. Fisherman, July 1974, p. 16-26. 



Ingham, M. C. 



1979. Marine environmental conditions off the Allan! ic and 

 Gulf coasts of the United Slates, January 1977-March 

 1978. Mar. Fish. Rev. 41(5-6):35-47. 

 Manooch, C. S., III. 



1979. Recreational and commercial fisheries for king mack- 

 erel, Scombernmorus cavalla, in the South Atlantic Bight 

 and Gulf of Mexico, U.S.A. In E. L. Nakamura and H. R. 

 Bullis, Jr. (editors), Proceedings: Colloquium on the 

 Spanish and king mackerel resources of the Gulf of Mex 

 ico, p. 33-41. Gulf States Mar. Fish. Comm., March 1979, 

 No. 4. 

 Moore, D.. H. A. Brisher. and W. L. Trent. 



1970. Relative abundance, seasonal distribution, and species 

 composition of demersal fishes off Louisiana and Texas, 

 1962-64. Publ. Inst. Mar. Sci. Univ. Tex. 15:45-70. 

 MUNRO, I. S. R. 



1943. Revision of Australian species of Scorn- 

 beromorus. Mem. Queensl. Mus. 12(l):65-95. 

 Ragan, J. G, A. H. Harris, and J. H. Green. 



1978. Temperature, salinity and oxygen measurements of 

 surface and bottom waters on the continental shelf off 

 Louisiana during portions of 1975 and 1976. Profes- 

 sional papers series (Biology) No. 3, 29 p. Nicholls State 

 Univ., Thibodaux, La. 

 Randall, J. E. 



1968. Caribbean reef fishes. T.F.H. Publ., Inc., Jersey City, 

 318 p. 

 RlCKER, W. E. 



1975. Computation and interpretation of biological statistics 

 of fish populations. Fish. Res. Board Can., Bull. 191, 

 382 p. 



ROYCE, W. F. 



1972. Introduction to the Fishery Sciences. Acad. Press, 

 N.Y., 351 p. 

 Simpson, G. G, A. Roe, and R. C. Lewontin. 



1960. Quantitative zoology. Revised ed. Harcouri, Brace, 

 and Co., N.Y., 440 p. 

 Trent, W. L., R. W. Williams, R. G. Taylor, C. H. Saloman. and 

 C. S. Manooch HI. 



1981. Size and sex ratio of king mackerel, Scomberomorus 

 (/nulla, in the southeastern United States. U.S. Dep. 

 Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS SEFC-62, 59 p. 

 Wise, J. P., and B. G. Thompson. 



1977. Fishery statistics of the United States, 1974 U.S. 

 Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv. Stat. 68, 424 p. 



721 



