A DESCRIPTION OF ATLANTIC MACKEREL, 

 SCOMBER SCOMBRUS, EGGS AND EARLY LARVAE 



Peter L. Berrien 



ABSTRACT 



The development of laboratory-reared Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus, eggs and early larvae 

 is described in order to augment published descriptions of this species. The eggs are spherical, 

 have a diameter of 1.01 to 1.28 mm, and have a single, yellowish oil globule, 0.22 to 0.38 mm in 

 diameter. Melanophores, first visible after blastopore closure, assume a distinct pattern on the 

 embryo. Melanophores are present on the oil globule but are absent from the yolk surface except 

 immediately prior to hatching. Hatching occurs at 90 to 102 h after fertilization at an average 

 incubation temperature of 13.8°C. Bodily pigmentation of the larvae undergoes considerable change 

 during yolk absorption; eye pigmentation is apparent at 66 h after hatching. The yolk is fully 

 absorbed by 137 h after hatching, and teeth are present in 192-h-old larvae. 



To complement ichthyoplankton survey work 

 underway at the Sandy Hook Laboratory, eggs 

 of a few fish species have been artificially spawned 

 and reared in the laboratory. These series of 

 known identities were obtained for comparison 

 with eggs and larvae from plankton samples. 

 The purpose of this paper is to present descrip- 

 tive information on the eggs and early larvae 

 of Atlantic mackerel. Scomber scombrus Linnaeus 

 1758, and, in so doing, to augment previous 

 descriptions of the young stages of this species, 

 particularly of the eggs. 



Previous publications containing helpful infor- 

 mation on identification of North American 

 Atlantic mackerel eggs and larvae are by Sette 

 (1943), who included descriptive notes on eggs 

 and larvae and compared them with young stages 

 of other species present in the same waters, 

 and by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953), who pre- 

 sented a brief egg and larval description and 

 illustrated four larval stages. Other, less helpful, 

 descriptive notes on North American Atlantic 

 mackerel eggs and larvae are by Moore (1899), 

 Dannevig (1919), Bigelow and Welsh (1925), 

 Sparks (1929), Merriman andSclar (1952), Wheat- 

 land (1956), and Marak and Colton (1961). 

 Worley (1933) described the rate of embryonic 

 development of Atlantic mackerel at various 

 temperatures. Other papers describing eggs and 



'Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center Sandy Hook 

 Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, P.O. 

 Box 428, Highlands, NJ 07732. 



larvae of Atlantic mackerel, probably of a separ- 

 ate European race (Garstang 1897-99), include 

 Cunningham (1891-92a, b), Ehrenbaum (1905- 

 09), Bigelow and Welsh (1925), Sella and Ciacchi 

 (1925), and Padoa (1956). However, adequate 

 descriptions of Atlantic mackerel eggs are lacking 

 in the literature because descriptive information 

 by most of the above authors is limited to reports 

 of egg and oil globule diameters. Illustrations, 

 where presented, are of little use in differentiat- 

 ing this from other species. The reported egg 

 dimensions vary greatly and overlap those of 

 other species present at the same time and in 

 some of the same areas as Atlantic mackerel. 

 Regarding this problem, Sette (1943) described 

 a technique of plotting oil globule diameter 

 against egg diameter for all eggs in hauls con- 

 taining troublesome mixtures. In these scatter 

 diagrams the Atlantic mackerel eggs remained 

 discrete from other species' eggs. 



The congeneric chub mackerel, Pneumato- 

 phorus diego (= Scomber japonicus) eggs and 

 larvae from the eastern Pacific Ocean were 

 described by Fry (1936), Orton (1953), and 

 Kramer (1960) and from the western Pacific 

 Ocean by Uchida et al. (1958), Dekhnik (1959), 

 and Watanabe (1970). The papers by Orton, 

 Kramer, and Watanabe contain very detailed 

 and useful descriptions. Eggs and yolk-sac lar- 

 vae of S. scombrus and S. japonicus, judged by 

 my specimens and the above-mentioned de- 

 scriptions, are similar, but differ in that: S. 

 japonicus late-stage eggs and early yolk-sac lar- 



Manuscript accepted April 1974. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 73, NO. 1, 1975. 



186 



