Govoni et al.: Early life history of Xiphias gladius in the western North Atlantic 



787 



Atlantic (Scheltema, 1971; Cowen et al., 2000; Gaylord and 

 Gaines, 2000). Larvae that are not retained by eddies of the 

 Gulf Loop Current and the Gulf Stream may be diverted to 

 the central Atlantic (McGuillicuddy et al., 1998) and prob- 

 ably do not transit to the eastern North Atlantic. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank L. R. Settle [NOAA - NOS, Center for Fisheries 

 and Habitat Research (CCFHR)] for the collection of some 

 of the swordfish specimens reported in our study. M. M. 

 Leiby (Florida Department of Natural Resources) loaned 

 SEAMAP collections. F. Arocha (Universidad de Oriente, 

 Venezuela), S. A. Berkeley (Oregon State University), and D. 

 L. Lee and J. L. Cramer (NOAA- Fisheries, Southeast Fish- 

 eries Science Center) provided invaluable counsel on sword- 

 fish biology. D. W. Ahrenholz and M. H. Prager (CCFHR, 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA), W. J. Richards 

 (Fisheries, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA), and 

 F Arocha provided reviews of the manuscript. 



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