FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72, NO. 2 



Figure 6. — The overlapping habitats of the Red Sea lizardfish 

 and the hake over the Israel continental shelf. Top - summer; 

 bottom - winter. Depth in fathoms. 



(fathoms), but mostly at less than 35 fm (Figure 6). 

 During the warm season the lizardfish may spread 

 over deeper trawling grounds. Occasionally it oc- 

 curs in catches made at 80 to 100 fm. In general, 

 however, the lizardfish is of no commercial signifi- 

 cance over the deepwater trawling grounds 

 (Ben-Yami, 1971; Zismann, 1971). 



Spawning 



There is very little biological information on the 

 Red Sea lizardfish in this area. Bograd-Zismann 

 (see footnote 10) and Chervinsky ( 1959) found that 

 ripe, nearly ripe, and partly spent females occur in 

 catches almost all year long, though the former 

 author indicated that the greater proportion of 

 nearly ripe females occurs in the early summer. It 

 has to be borne in mind that a fish may spawn over 

 a prolonged season, while the survival of its fry 

 may be confined to a much shorter period con- 

 trolled by favorable, seasonal conditions. 



The area of spawning can only be speculated as 

 being offshore and in deep water. This is based on 

 the following information: Neither larvae nor 

 juveniles oiSaurida were taken during an exten- 

 sive survey offish larvae made using neuston nets 

 (Ben-Yami et al., 1970) and Isaacs-Kidd mid- 

 water trawl off the coast of Israel and Sinai during 

 1967-69. This survey consisted of 25 cruises cover- 

 ing inshore (Haifa Bay, Bardawil Lagoon), shal- 



low water, and offshore stations. Only once, in 

 December 1968, were S. undosquamis fry taken: 

 nine 11-20 mm specimens were caught in deep 

 water in the Isaacs-Kidd trawl, at a station 

 situated 7 miles west of Cape Carmel, over 200 fm 

 depth (Lourie, Herzberg, and Ben-Yami, 1969^S 

 Lourie, pers. comm.). 



The very fact that S. undosquamis larvae and 

 juveniles did not occur either among the 

 thousands of fish larvae and juveniles caught in 

 neuston nets during day and night tows (Lourie et 

 al., see footnote 11; Lourie, pers. comm.) or in sam- 

 ples taken by means of a light trap for small 

 photokinetic organisms (Zismann, 1969) seems to 

 indicate that they do not occur in the surface water 

 layer, neither during the day nor by night. On the 

 other hand, the capture of the young in December, 

 over deep water and apparently deep in the mid- 

 water, coincided with the seasonal temperature 

 increase at this level (Oren, 1970) (Figure 1). 



Growth 



Chervinsky (1959) has measured the length fre- 

 quency of the lizardfish between June and De- 

 cember 1957, concluding that while the bulk of the 

 lizardfish catch consisted offish between 16 and 24 

 cm long, they grew fast; 2 cm per month. No males 

 exceeding 24 cm were found, although females 

 exceed 30 cm. 



Bograd-Zismann (see footnote 10) examined the 

 scales of the lizardfish. Two annuli were found on 

 the scales offish 22 to 30 cm total length (TL). On 

 the scales offish 19 to 22 cm TL, one annulus was 

 seen, but there are indications that the year's 

 growth is not marked by a clear annulus. Thus, it 

 seems that the age of the lizardfish at recruitment 

 is about 2 yr or may be 3 yr, the bulk of the fish in 

 the catch being at least 2 yr old. 



Relation with Relative Species 



To complete the ecological picture of the Red Sea 

 lizardfish, its relationship with two of its relatives 

 should be mentioned: one is the Atlantic- 

 Mediterranean lizardfish, Synodus saurus, and 



'"Bograd-Zismann, L. 1961-62. Interim report on the study 

 of the food of Saurida undosquamis in the Mediterranean 

 Sea. Unpubl. manuscr. In files of the Isr. Sea Fish. Res. Stn., 

 Haifa. 



"Lourie, A., A. Herzberg, and M. Ben-Yami. 1969. A survey 

 of neustonic fishes off the Mediterranean coast of Israel and 

 Sinai, 1968. In Interim Report, Joint Research Project "Biota of 

 the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean," p. 133-150. The 

 Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, Washington, D.C. [Processed.] 



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