440 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Records of Eggs, Larvae, and Early Juveniles of Caranx 

 Species that Occur in the Western North Atlantic 



Apparently the only published record of eggs 

 and larvae of species of Caranx that occur in 

 the Western Atlantic is by Chacko (1950: 171) in 

 his account of plankton around the Krusadi 

 Island in the Gulf of Mannar, India. For Caranx 

 hippos (Linnaeus) he gave the following informa- 

 tion: Spawning season, August to September; 

 diameter of egg, 0.7 to 0.9 mm.; chief characters 

 of egg, segmented yolk and one yellowish oil 

 globule of 0.18 mm. diameter with dark pigments; 

 chief characters of larva, 1.6 to 1.8 mm. in length, 

 brown pigments on dorsal side of body, and 12 

 preanal myotomes. In citing this reference in 

 his bibliography of the development of Indian 

 fishes, Jones (1950: 129) assigned it to tbe 

 synonymy of C. sexfasciatus Quoy and Gaimard; 

 but his reasons for doing this are not given, and 

 the correct identity of Chacko 's specimens is 

 uncertain. 



Schnakenbeck (1931: 17, fig. 12) illustrated a 

 20-mm. total length specimen taken south of 

 Crete, which he questionably identified as Caranx 

 fusus Geoffroy. The illustration and soft-ray 

 counts are very similar to the closely related, if 

 not identical, Atlantic crysos. According to this 

 observation and Tortonese's (1952) review of the 

 Mediterranean Carangidae, the specimen is fusus. 



Schnakenbeck (1931: 18, figs. 13 to 16) illus- 

 trated a 6-mm. total length specimen questionably 

 identified as C. dentex taken between Crete and 

 North Africa, and recorded the same identity to 

 a 5-mm. total length specimen from around 

 Corsica. He stated that the identification was 

 based upon supposition. Although the specimen 

 illustrated may belong to the genus Caranx, it 

 would be better unassociated with any species 

 designation pending the acquisition and study 

 of identifiable series of the Mediterranean species. 



Nichols (1938b: 1) illustrated and gave propor- 

 tions of a 22-mm. juvenile crysos taken in the 

 Gulf Stream off Bimini, Bahamas; and illustrated 

 a 30-mm. juvenile ruber. 



Nichols (1939) gave proportions and pigment 

 descriptions for juveniles of five species of Caranx 

 from the West Indies: crysos, 12 to 72 mm.; 

 ruber, 13 to 62 mm.; bartholomaei, 16 to 51 mm.; 

 latus ( = sexfasciatus), 12 to 25 mm.; and hippos, 

 13 mm. His key to young Caranx of the West 

 Indian region does not allow for changes in ratios 



with changes in relationships of body parts or 

 the intraspecific variation and interspecific overlap 

 that is characteristic of these species. 



Fowler (1945: 292) misidentified a juvenile 

 from Boca Chica, Key West, Fla., as dentex (under 

 the name of guara) — the specimen is a 24.4-mm. 

 bartholomaei. 



Fowler (1950: 70) misidentified a juvenile 

 bartholomaei, 17.4 mm., from northwest of Cay 

 Sal Bank, as latus. 



Fowler (1950: 70, fig. 3) misidentified 2 juvenile 

 specimens of bartholomaei, 15.8 and 17.2 mm., from 

 northwest of Cay Sal Bank, as dentex (under the 

 name of guara). 



Padoa, in Padoa et al. (1956: 54-5) reproduced 

 the illustrations of Caranx which Schnakenbeck 

 (1931) had identified as dentex and fusus, and 

 expressed doubt on the identity of the former 

 and concurred with the identity of the latter. 



Liitken (1880: 535) briefly described differences 

 in comparative measurements (body depth, head 

 and pectoral lengths) between small and large 

 sizes of three species of Caranx: C. ruber, under 

 the name of C. blochii Cuvier; C. hippos; and 

 C. crysos, under the name of C. pisquetus Cuvier. 

 He mentioned minimum lengths of 13 mm. for 

 ruber and 34 mm. for crysos. He (op. cit.: 538) 

 said that the body bars of young C. latus (under 

 the name of C. fallax Cuvier) disappeared com- 

 paratively early. 



SPAWNING 



Published data relating to the spawning of 

 hippos and crysos are very meager, and apparently 

 are nonexistent for the other species of Caranx. 

 Spawning may occur in waters off the south- 

 eastern Atlantic coast of the United States for 

 latus and hippos (whether this applies to one or 

 both species is dependent in part on the specific 

 identity of the "latus and/or hippos" series of 

 specimens), for crysos and ruber, and possibly for 

 bartholomaei. The major areas of spawning are 

 probably to the south of this area. Since the 

 larvae and early juveniles are associated with the 

 Gulf Stream, spawning must occur in offshore 

 waters of the Gulf Stream or in currents con- 

 tributing to it. 



The spawning season that contributes Caranx 

 to this area is estimated to extend from February 

 into September. 



