470 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



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160 " 



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MONTHS 



Figure 47. — Caranx ruber: Size distribution, by months, of specimens taken off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the 



United States. 



that the major portion of this population returns 

 southward, either against the currents of the Gulf 

 Stream or through the Sargasso Sea, to supplement 

 the adult population of the West Indies. 



Although apparently very abundant off the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States, ruber appears 

 to be relatively rare in the northern Gulf of Mexico. 

 It was reported from the Port Isabel area of Texas 

 by Baughman (1947: 280). Ginsburg (1952: 91) 

 found no specimens from the northern Gulf coast. 

 The specimens reported by Giinther (1860:441) as 

 dentex, which probably were ruber, were listed am- 

 biguously from New Orleans. I have examined 

 two specimens of ruber taken by the Silver Bay 

 about 11 miles southwest of Cedar Key, Fla., and 

 specimens taken by the Oregon about 55 miles 

 southeast and about 60 miles east of South Pass, 

 La., and 150 miles south of Mobile Bay (table 10). 

 Other than from around Havana and Torgugas, 

 the only other records I have found for this species 

 in the Gulf of Mexico are from five Oregon stations 

 reported by Springer and Bullis (1956: 74). 



On the basis of two collections of ruber from the 

 Gulf Stream (off Bimini, Bahamas, and about 350 

 miles east of Virginia), Nichols (1939:2) postu- 

 lated, "The Gulf Stream is obviously their Atlantic 

 nursery ground." He suggested that the young 

 might enter the Gulf Stream mainly from its 

 easterly edge, "or perhaps they frequent the cur- 

 rent rather than slack waters at the edges until 

 large enough to migrate independently, when they 

 must of necessity strike southward or be lost." 



Spawning 



The spawning season may be estimated, from 

 the smallest specimens taken in April (15 mm.) 

 and in October (18 mm.), to extend from mid- 

 February to mid-August (fig. 47). 



If, as suggested, there is a mobile, northward- 

 moving population of developing young in the 

 Gulf Stream, the majority of the specimens taken 

 by the Gill would have developed from spawning 

 that occurred to the south of this area. The small 

 sizes of several specimens listed in table 10 suggest 



