EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FIVE CARANGID FISHES OF 

 THE GULF OF MEXICO AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST 



OF THE UNITED STATES 



Virginia L. Aprieto' 



ABSTRACT 



Larvae of round scad, Decapterus punctatus; rainbow runner, Elagatis bipinnulata; banded rudderfish, 

 Seriola zonata; lookdown, Selene vomer; and leatherjacket, Oligoplites saurus, collected in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and off the south Atlantic coast of the United States are described and illustrated. Larvae 2 to 3 

 mm long show general family characteristics but generic and specific characters are differentiated in 

 later stages. Morphological features including supraoccipital crest, thickness of the first interhemal 

 spine, and body indices; meristic characters; mode of development and modification of the dorsal and 

 pelvic fins; and patterns of pigmentation are useful in distinguishing the family, genera, and species. 

 Information on distribution and spawning is included. 



The family Carangidae consists of about 200 

 species of fishes which vary widely in form and are 

 distributed in tropical and subtropical waters. 

 Various attempts by authors to divide the family 

 into subfamilies proved unsatisfactory in view of 

 the numerous, weak characters used for this pur- 

 pose and the presence of many transition genera 

 which did not permit delineation of groups which 

 may have been proposed as subfamilies (Gins- 

 burg, 1952). 



Twenty-eight species of carangids have been 

 found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the 

 United States (Table 1). The larvae of some of 

 these species occurred frequently in plankton and 

 nekton collected in the Gulf of Mexico and off the 

 south Atlantic coast of the United States during 

 the multiship cruises in October to November 

 1970 and May to October 1971 during continuing 

 surveys of marine biological communities con- 

 ducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 (Southeast Fisheries Center) and cooperating 

 agencies. The larval development of five species is 

 described and illustrated in the present work. 



Only a few studies dealing with early life his- 

 tory stages of North Atlantic carangids have been 

 carried out by American workers. Hildebrand and 

 Cable (1930) described larvae and early juveniles 

 of Decapterus punctatus and Seriola dumerili. 



'College of Fisheries, University of the Philippines, Quezon 

 City, Philippines. 



Fields (1962) described postlarvae of these species 

 of Trachinotus: T. carolinus, T. falcatus, and T. 

 glaucus; McKenney, Alexander, and Voss (1958) 

 described a rather complete larval series of 

 Caranx crysos; Berry (1959) described late-stage 

 larvae and juveniles of five species of Caranx, 

 including: C. crysos, C. bartholomaei, C. ruber, C. 

 hippos, and C latus. None of the above series in- 

 cluded eggs or yolk-sac larvae and the majority 

 lacked early-stage larvae as well. 



Over a third of the carangids that occur off the 

 eastern United States are wide-ranging species, 

 and early life history series had been described 

 from other areas for the following: Selar cru- 

 menophthalmus by Delsman (1926) and Devane- 

 san and Chidambaram (1941), Naucrates ductor 

 by Sanzo (1931), Caranx dentex by Schnakenbeck 

 (1931), Seriola dumerili by Sanzo (1933), 

 Trachinotus glaucus by de Gaetani ( 1940), Caranx 

 hippos by Chacko (1950) and Subrahmanyam 

 (1964), Chloroscombrus chrysurus and Alectis 

 crinitus by Aboussouan (1968), and Elagatis 

 bipinnulata by Okiyama (1970). Hence, early life 

 history series — some complete, some fragmen- 

 tary — were known for 16 of 28 species of caran- 

 gids that occur along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts 

 of the United States. 



A proper understanding of the early life history 

 of fishes, particularly those of species important to 

 man, can never be overemphasized. The presence 

 of larvae is indicative of recent spawning, and 



Manuscript accepted August 1973. 



FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 72, NO. 2, 1974. 



415 



