Abstract.- Atlantic spadeflsh 

 ClKH'toillph'riiKJaber were collected 

 from South Carolina between July 

 1985 and May 1987 to examine feed- 

 ing habits, age and growth, and re- 

 production. Analysis of stomach con- 

 tents by habitat showed that fish 

 from estuarine areas and offshore 

 artificial reefs ate mainly hydroids, 

 while Anthozoa were dominant food 

 items for fish from nearshore marine 

 areas. Stomach contents from fish 

 obtained by hook-and-line near off- 

 shore artificial reefs, using Stoniolo- 

 phuii nuicagriK as bait, indicated that 

 scyphozoan jellyfish were the domi- 

 nant prey, but fish collected by spear 

 or net had stomach contents domi- 

 nated by hydroids, anthozoans, and 

 polychaetes. Ages of Atlantic spade- 

 fish were determined from whole sa- 

 gittae. Marginal increment analysis 

 indicated that annuli foi'med between 

 December and May. The von Berta- 

 lanffy growth equation, derived from 

 back-calculated mean total lengths at 

 age was /, =490(l-e-03w-n'i«>), where 

 t is age in years, and l, = total length 

 at age. Mean asymptotic total length 

 was calculated to be 490 mm. The 

 oldest fish examined was age 8 and 

 ,504 mm TL. Histological examina- 

 tion indicated that fish matured at 

 age 1 and spawned fi-om May through 

 August. 



Feeding Habits, Age, Growtli, and 

 Reproduction of Atlantic Spadefisli 

 Chaetodipterus faber (Pisces: 

 Epiiippidae) in Soutfi Carolina* 



John W. Hayse 



Grice Marine Biological Laboratory 



215 Fort Johnson Rd . Charleston, South Carolina 



Present address: Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 



The Atlantic spadefish Chaetodipterus 

 faher (Broussonet) is the only mem- 

 ber of the family Ephippidae native 

 to the western Atlantic Ocean. This 

 species inhabits coastal waters from 

 Chesapeake Bay to southeastern 

 Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico 

 (Johnson 1978), and has also been in- 

 troduced into the waters surrounding 

 Bermuda (Burgess 1978). It is a com- 

 mon fish in South Carolina, par- 

 ticularly from early spring through 

 late fall, and all life stages have been 

 collected in South Carolina. 



Since 1978 the Recreational Fish- 

 eries Section of the South Carolina 

 Wildlife and Maiine Resources Depart- 

 ment (SCWMRD) has promoted C. 

 faber as a sportfish, primarily due to 

 the attraction of large numbers of 

 adult Atlantic spadefish to offshore 

 artificial reefs that have been created 

 and/or maintained by SCWMRD. 

 Atlantic spadefish have traditionally 

 been a relatively minor recreational 

 species in South Carolina and were 

 only occasionally caught by hook-and- 

 line fishermen using shrimp or squid 

 as bait. Observations of feeding be- 

 havior by SCWMRD personnel in the 

 early 1980s suggested that Atlantic 

 spadefish might eat Stomolophus 

 meleagris, the cannonball jellyfish. 

 As a result, a technique using can- 



Manuscript accepted 11 August 1989. 

 Fishery Bulletin, U.S. 88:67-83. 



•Contribution No. 86 of the Grice Marine Bio- 

 logical Laboratory, and Contribution No. 274 

 of the South Carolina Marine Resources Re- 

 search Institute. 



nonball jellyfish as bait was devel- 

 oped and has proven extremely ef- 

 fective in attracting and capturing 

 C. faber (Moore et al. 1984). This 

 method has since been the subject of 

 some recreational fishing publica- 

 tions (Ogle 1985, 1987). Little, how- 

 ever, is known about the life history, 

 feeding habits, age and growth, or 

 reproductive biology of C. faher, 

 even though such information is pre- 

 liminary to proper assessment and 

 management. 



The present study was imdertaken 

 with three major objectives. The first 

 was examination of stomach con- 

 tents from specimens of C. faher in 

 order to describe the diet. In addi- 

 tion to a qualitative and quantitative 

 diet analysis, I wished to determine 

 if the mode of collecting fish (hook- 

 and-line vs. net and spearfishing) 

 might bias the results of diet analy- 

 sis. Since Atlantic spadefish appeared 

 to inhabit different areas depending 

 upon body size and age, I also wished 

 to deteiTnine if ontogenetic and habi- 

 tat differences existed in the diets 

 of the fish collected. The second por- 

 tion of the study dealt with age and 

 growth of Atlantic spadefish in South 

 Carolina by finding a suitable ageing 

 method and estimating growth rates. 

 The final segment of the research 

 explored the reproductive biology of 

 C. faber, specifically determination 

 of spawning period, sex ratios, and 

 the age at sexual maturity of Atlan- 

 tic spadefish off South Carolina. 



67 



