454 



Fishery Bulletin 88(3). 1990 



mid-December-mid-March and continuing at a lower 

 level through April or May, generally agrees with the 

 limited literature. Gunter (1938b, 1945) suggested fall- 

 winter or late winter-early spring spawning, because 

 28-100 mm young appeared from April through June. 

 Winter-spring spawning is also supported by: (1) col- 

 lection of neustonic "larvae"' 21-80 mm^ in water 

 25-134 m deep over the south Texas continental shelf 

 primarily from mid-January through early April, but 

 also into early June (Pequegnat et al. 1977); (2) collec- 



tion at the surface of fish (a) 44-54 mm in water 2300 

 m deep in early March off south Texas (26°15'N, 

 95°00'W)3, (b) 57-71 mm (41-51 mm SL) in water 137 



'Larvae as used by Pequegnat et al. (1977) and Wormuth et al. (1979) 

 may encompass the juvenile stage defined by Moyle and Cech (1982). 



-We obtained sizes from specimens deposited at the Texas Coop- 

 erative Wildlife Collection (TCWC), Texas A&M University, Col- 

 lege Station, TX. 



'Fish were collected by W. Pequegnat and M. Kennicutt (Dep. 

 Oceanogr., Texas A&M Univ.). and deposited in TCWC. 



