MULIjIDAE OF THE WESTERX XORTH ATLANTIC 



443 



SPAWNING 



The J'oung M. auratu.s taken on tlie Gill cruises 

 were all collected between Januai"y and May (table 

 7). The smallest specimen (8 mm.) was collected 

 in April. 



UPENEUS PARVUS POEY 

 DISTRIBUTION 



Briggs (1958) gave the range of f//>eneM«/w7'VM.s- 

 as eastern P'lorida to the Lesser Antilles and 

 throiigluHit tlie Ciulf of Mexico. Lachner (inr)4) 

 reported, "Known from . . . Cuba, Tobago (Nor- 

 man, 1922), Puerto Rico, and Tortugas." 



Sevei'al recent captures e.xtend the range of U. 

 parvus considerably nortliward. Two specimens 

 were taken off Cape Lookout, N.C., by the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service vessel Silrrr Bay, at 

 successive stations, 1268 and 1269 (table 12), in 

 depths of 25 to ?>0 fathoms. Also, included in the 

 BLBG collection, tliere is a 26-mm. mullid. taken 

 off the coast of South Carolina with 9 small M. 

 auratus. It lacks the minute 1st dorsal spine and 

 the palato-vomerine tooth patch typical of M. 

 aurafus. Its pigmentation and gill raker count 

 of 5-1-17 (12 on the ceratobranchial bone) are 

 typical of U. parvus at this size, and I have desig- 

 nated it as this species. 



In addition, three specimens of this species were 

 taken off the northeast coast of South America by 

 the U.S. Fish and "Wildlife Service vessel Oregon 

 at stations 2221, 2274, and 2304 (table 12, p. 435), 

 and I have examined three specimens from Brazil 

 previously identified as PsetidomuUoides cannln- 

 eus Miranda-Ribeiro (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1915). 

 Two were labeled "Vitoria, Brazil," and the third 

 as simply ''Entraposta da Pesca'^ (fish market?). 

 The only differences I could find between these 

 specimens and U. parvus were that they had one 

 fewer lower-limb gill raker (17), and possibly a 

 shorter barbel length and smaller eye. These 

 differences, even if real, are not of specific or even 

 subspecific importance. Ernest A. Lachner of the 

 USNM, currently revising the Mullidae, identified 

 them as U. parvus, which extends the southern 

 range for this species to Vitoria, Brazil. The three 

 specimens are included as U. parvus in table 12 

 and in these discussions. The labels from these 

 Brazil specimens do not state that they were mar- 

 ket-procured, but tliis could be the case. Tliey 

 could have been brought into the markets from 



some distance away, and tlie exact locality records 

 may be questioned. 



Figure 2 gives the locations of capture of tlie 

 specimens examined; table 12 gives pertinent sta- 

 tion data and present location of material. 



ECOLOGY 



Briggs reported ( 1958) that U. parvus is a shore 

 fish, as are all of the four species of western North 

 Atlantic Mullidae. This is supported by the data 

 on specimens examined (table 12). All adult 

 specimens over 100 nun. were taken by bottom 

 trawls in water depths ranging from 19 to 50 

 fathoms (tables 13 and 14, p. 444). Longley and 

 Hildebrand (1941) reported that this species was 

 repeatedly taken in water depths of 40 to 60 

 fathoms. That they are bottom-dwellers is shown 

 by their being taken consistently in bottom trawls. 



The juveniles have an offshore pelagic stage that 

 differs from the adult in appearance. The speci- 

 mens examined on which complete station data 

 are available ranged from 20.8 to 135.0 mm., and 

 are individually listed in order of size in table 13. 

 All specimens smaller than 47.5 mm. were taken 

 by dip net. The locations of capture (table 12) 

 show small specimens taken in the middle of the 

 Gulf of Mexico {Oregon Stations 1035 and 1102). 

 This is roughly 100 to 150 miles from the nearest 

 shallow water, the Campeche Bank, and approxi- 

 mately 250 miles from the nearest major land 

 mass (fig. 2). In this vicinity a branch of the 

 Gulf Stream flows northwesterly from the 

 Yucatan Channel toward Galveston, Texas 

 (Leipper, 1954), so probably these fish were 

 spawned in the shallow waters south of the 

 Campeche Bank and carried across the 1,000- 

 fathom line. All of the specimens over 60.7 mm. 

 were taken by bottom trawl (table 13), indicating 

 that, whereas metamorphosis can be delayed up to 

 a point, juveniles over approximately 60 mm. 

 either find their normal adult habitat and descend 

 to the bottom, their normal adult habitat, or 

 perish. 



The dip-netted specimens, regardless of stand- 

 ard lengths, are long and slender, a shape typiciil 

 of pelagic fish. They are dark brown, and in .sjiite 

 of preservation, some of them have retained the 

 silvery abdomen common to a pelagic stage 

 (Ilubbs. 1941). None has lost the juvenile pig- 

 mentation. Except for one, which is di.scussed 

 later, the shallow-water specimens from 47.5 to 



