ABUNDANCE AND POTENTIAL YIELD OF THE ROUND HERRING, 



ETRUMEUS TERES, AND ASPECTS OF ITS EARLY LIFE HISTORY 



IN THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO 1 



Edward D. Houde 2 



ABSTRACT 



Eggs and larvae of the round herring, Etrumeus teres, were surveyed from plankton collections made in 

 the eastern Gulf of Mexico from 1971 to 1974 to determine adult stock size, spawning areas, and 

 spawning seasons and to study aspects of its early life history. Spawning occurred from mid-October 

 through May where depths ranged from 30 to 200 m, surface temperatures from 18.4° to 26.9°C, and 

 surface salinities from 34.5 to 36.5°/oo. A major spawning area was present 150 km from Tampa Bay 

 between lat. 27°00' and 28°00'N and long. 083°30' and 084°30'W. Mean relative fecundity of 8 adult 

 females was 296.5 ova per gram and the sex ratio of 71 adults was 1:1. The development time of eggs 

 from spawning to hatching was approximately 2.0 days at 22°C. Three methods were used to determine 

 adult biomass. The most probable annual estimates of biomass were approximately 700,000 metric 

 tons in 1971-72 and 130,000 metric tons in 1972-73. The best estimates of the range of potential annual 

 yields to a fishery were from 50,000 to 250,000 tons. Abundance and mortality rates of larvae were 

 estimated in each year. It is probable that more than 99.4% mortality occurred between spawning and 

 the 15.5-mm larval stage during 31 days in 1971-72 and more than 98.3% mortality occurred for the 

 same period in 1972-73. 



Round herring, Etrumeus teres (DeKay), is one of 

 several clupeid fishes that are abundant in conti- 

 nental shelf waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. 

 Distribution and abundance of this species was 

 determined, based on egg and larvae surveys, as 

 part of a program to investigate abundance and 

 fishery potential for sardinelike fishes in the east- 

 ern Gulf. It is generally believed that several 

 species of underexploited clupeid fishes from this 

 area could provide significant catches (Bullis and 

 Thompson 1967; Bullis and Carpenter 1968; Wise 

 1972) that would supplement yields of the heavily 

 exploited Gulf menhaden, Breuoortia patronus. 

 The egg and larvae surveys were carried out in 17 

 cruises from 1971 to 1974. Preliminary reports on 

 clupeid abundance, based on these surveys, have 

 been published (Houde 1973a, 1974) and overall 

 results of the surveys were recently summarized 

 (Houde 1976; Houde et al. 1976; Houde and Chitty 

 1976). 



There are eight apparently discrete populations 

 of Etrumeus in the world oceans. Whitehead 

 (1963) has placed all of the forms in the single 

 species E. teres. Recorded populations occur in the 



Contribution from Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmo- 

 spheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Fla. 



2 Division of Biology and Living Resources, Rosenstiel School 

 of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 

 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149. 



western Atlantic from Cape Cod into the Gulf of 

 Mexico, in the eastern North Pacific from the Gulf 

 of California to north of Los Angeles, in the central 

 North Pacific near Hawaii, in the Indo-Pacific off 

 the south and west coasts of Australia, in the 

 western North Pacific off the coasts of Japan, in 

 the western Indian Ocean off the east coast of 

 South Africa, in the Red Sea, and near the Gala- 

 pagos Islands in the Eastern Pacific. 



Eggs and larvae of E. teres have been described 

 from some areas where they occur (Blackburn 

 1941; Uchida et al. 1958; Mito 1961; Houde and 

 Fore 1973; O'Toole and King 1974; Watson and 

 Leis 1974). Ito (1968) examined fecundity and 

 maturity of round herring from the Sea of Japan. 

 Spawning by Hawaiian round herring recently 

 was discussed by Watson and Leis (1974). Dis- 

 tribution and abundance of round herring eggs 

 and larvae were reported in the Gulf of California 

 (Moser et al. 1974; De la Campa de Guzman and 

 Ortiz Jimenez 1975) and in the northern Gulf of 

 Mexico by Fore (1971). Khromov (1969) found 

 Etrumeus larvae to be common in plankton 

 catches during a winter survey of the eastern Gulf 

 of Mexico. 



Round herring are fished commercially off 

 Japan and South Africa. A catch of approximately 

 26,000 metric tons was made by South Africa in 

 1973 (Food and Agriculture Organization 1974; 



Manuscript accepted August 1976. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL.75, NO. 1, 1977. 



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