APRIETO: EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FIVE CARANGID FISHES 



Table 3. — Meristic characters of cleared and stained larvae and juveniles oiElagatis bipinnulata. 



the larvae are 4 to 5 mm long, the thickening 

 differentiates into hypural elements, the 

 notochord starts flexion, and the median caudal 

 rays ossify. The hypural elements ossify at 6 mm, 

 the full complement of 9 dorsal and 8 ventral prin- 

 cipal rays is present at 7 mm, and notochord 

 flexion is completed at 8 mm. The secondary rays 

 ossify at 6 mm beginning with the posteriormost 

 rays. The full complement of 10 to 11 dorsal and of 

 10 to 11 ventral secondary rays is formed at 12 

 mm. 



The last 3 vertebrae, the hypural elements, and 

 5 dorsal structures including the neural spine of 

 the antepenultimate vertebra, 3 median epurals, 

 and a specialized neural process support the 

 caudal fin. The supporting structures articulate 

 with the principal and secondary caudal rays. 

 They are generally similar to those occuring in 

 Trachurus symmetricus (Ahlstrom and Ball, 

 1954). 



Distribution and Spawning 



Elagatis bipinnulata has a circumtropical dis- 

 tribution (Briggs, 1960). It has been previously 

 reported from Texas, Florida, and Long Island 

 (Ginsburg, 1952) and is also known from the West 

 Indies (Jordan and Evermann, 1896), Japan 

 (Okada, 1966), Hawaii (Gosline and Brock, 1960), 

 Africa (Fowler, 1936), Philippines (Herre, 1953), 

 and the Great Barrier Reef (Marshall, 1965). The 

 larvae were reported by Okiyama (1970) to be the 

 most abundant form of epipelagic larval carangid 

 in the tropical as well as in the subtropical 



Indo-Pacific ocean where spawning occurs 

 throughout the year with a peak in March. 



In the present study, larvae and early juveniles 

 less than 20 mm have been taken in every month 

 except in May and December. While the speci- 

 mens are too few to give conclusive information, it 

 appears that spawning may occur throughout the 

 year. The larvae were taken mainly in offshore 

 waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in the Santa- 

 ren Channel, the Straits of Florida, and the 

 Carolina Bight off New Brunswick, Ga. (Figure 2). 

 They occurred in 2.6% of the net stations and con- 

 stituted 2.39c of the young carangids collected. 



Figure 2. — Locations of collections of larval carangids during 

 two cruises of the Oregon II from July to August and from 

 October to November 1970 and a cruise of the Tursiops in August 

 1971. Records of occurrences oiElagatis bipinnulata are shown 

 as solid circles, those of Seriola zonata as solid triangles, and 

 those of Selene vomer as solid squares. Open circles represent 

 other stations occupied. 



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