Smith-Vaniz and Carpenter: Review of the Caranx hippos complex witti a description of a new species from West Africa 213 



ent thickened vertebrae of C. carangopsis. These fossil 

 vertebrae are similar to those of hyperostotic Trachurus 

 trachurus Linnaeus (see Desse et al., 19811, suggest- 

 ing that the original description of C. carangopsis is 

 likely based on material (deposited at NMW) from two 

 carangid genera. 



Biology, fisheries, fish size, and edibility 



Remarkably little information has been published on the 

 biology of members of the Caranx hippos complex. Both 

 Kwei (19781 and McBride and McKown (2000) discussed 

 the importance of estuaries as nurseries for juvenile C 

 hippos, and such importance undoubtedly also applies to 

 the other species. The former work is a comprehensive 

 reference on the biology and fisheries of the "crevalle 

 jack" in West Africa; unfortunately no photographs or 

 meristic data were included that can be used to confirm 

 the identification of species. Caranx hippos may well 

 have been the most abundant species in the study, but 

 C. fischeri is also very common in the region and almost 

 certainly was included in some of the samples. 



Noting the occurrence of smallest juveniles in his 

 study. Berry (1959) stated that off the southeastern 

 Atlantic coast of North America spawning probably oc- 

 curred offshore from March to September. Kwei (1978) 

 reported juveniles present in Ghanaian lagoons (Keta 

 region) during every month of the year and re-enter- 

 ing the sea at sizes 2I2 cm FL. Large shoals of Caranx 

 entered Ghanaian inshore waters from September to 

 December, spawning appeared to be protracted, and 

 peak spawning activity (determined from limited data) 

 occurred from October to late January. Low frequency 

 of ripe fish from inshore waters indicated that spawning 

 occurred offshore. Thompson and Munro (1983) reported 

 collecting seven "ripe" C hippos, four males and three 

 females, in the vicinity of Jamaica. The smallest ripe 

 males and females were 55 and 66 cm FL, respectively. 

 Adults were found occasionally in reef habitats and 

 reproductively active fish were taken in May, July, and 

 November. Hildebrand (1939) recorded seven females 

 (67-98 cm TL) with large or developing roe and 11 

 males (69-88 cm TL), most with developed testes, dur- 

 ing 20-24 February 1935 from Gatun Locks, Panama 

 Canal. McBride and KcKown (2000) reported young- 

 of-the-year C. hippos, <4.0 cm FL, present in subtropi- 

 cal estuaries (North Carolina to Florida) from June to 

 November and discussed literature indicating that 9°C 

 was likely the lower lethal temperature for the species. 

 Franke and Acero (1993) suggested that C. caninus 

 spawns throughout the year, peaking in January-Feb- 

 ruary and August. Examining 96 specimens, they re- 

 ported a 1;1 sex ratio, and the smallest mature males 

 and females were 67 and 65 cm TL, respectively. 



All species of the crevalle jack complex are major 

 predators of small schooling fishes in coastal areas. In 

 the western Atlantic (Florida, Louisiana, and Texas), 

 Saloman and Naughton (1984) reported that small 

 jacks fed primarily on clupeids and larger fish fed usu- 

 ally on clupeids, carangids, and sparids, but penaenoid 



shrimps, crabs, and other invertebrates were also con- 

 sumed. Clupeids [Sardinella and Engraulis) were also 

 the dominant prey of C. hippos in the Gulf of Guinea, 

 and juvenile shrimps contributed 50-80% of the diet of 

 juvenile fish during the dry season (Kwei, 1978). 



Most commercial landings of crevalle jack in the 

 western Atlantic are from Florida, and annual catch- 

 es of 221 to 320 t (metric tons) were recorded during 

 2000-2004 (NMFS2). In the eastern Atlantic, where 

 data for C. hippos and C. fisheri are combined under 

 "crevalle jack," commercial landings are reported only 

 from Angola, Ghana, Sao Tome, and Principe, and for 

 years 1995-2004 ranged from 2233 to 10,054 t (FAO. 

 2006). In the Gulf of Guinea, beach seine and set net 

 fisheries for crevalle jack historically supported a large 

 dried or salted fish industry. Okera (1978) reported C. 

 hippos (as C. carangus) to be one of the dominate pelag- 

 ic species in the beach seine fishery at Lumley, Sierra 

 Leone, and that 80-100 cm TL fish were most common 

 during September-October. Catches from Ghana in 

 the mid 1950s to early 1960s and from Angola in the 

 1970s exceeded 15,000 t during some years, but such 

 large catches no longer occur (FAO statistical data in 

 Froese and Pauly^). 



With regard to fighting ability of the crevalle jack, 

 Shipp (1986) stated "there is no tougher game to be had 

 in shallow coastal waters with light tackle than this 

 species." Caranx hippos is more important in recreation- 

 al fisheries in the United States (statistics based only 

 on Atlantic Coast, Gulf of Mexico, excluding Texas and 

 Puerto Rico) and for years 2000-2004 annual catches 

 ranged from 409 to 1030 t (NMFS-). Recreational fish- 

 ing also occurs in West Africa for both C hippos and 

 C. fisheri (Sehratwieser"'). 



The IGFA All-Tackle world-record C. hippos, from 

 Barra do Kwanza, Angola, was caught in December 

 2000, weighed 26.5 kg (58 lb 6 oz) and was 114 cm FL 

 and 129 cm TL; several other fish almost as large have 

 also been recorded from West Africa. One C. fischeri 

 caught at Ozouri Zimbani, Gabon, in January 1989, 

 weighed 20.9 kg, and was approximately 100 cm FL and 

 127 cm TL. An even larger one (see Fig. 8C), released 

 without being measured or weighed (est. weight 26 kg) 

 was caught in Loango National Park (Iguela Lagoon 

 mouth), Gabon, in December 2005. The IGFA All-Tackle 

 world-record C. caninus was caught at Playa Zancudo, 

 Costa Rica, in March 1997, weighed 19.7 kg, and was 

 101.6 cm TL. 



Crevalle jacks are strong fast-swimming predators 

 with large quantities of red muscle and consequently 



2 NMFS (NationalMarine Fisheries Service). 2006. Fisher- 

 ies Statistics Division. Website: http://www.st.nmfs.gov/stl/ 

 (accessed August 2006). 



^ Froese, R., and D. Pauly, eds. FishBase world wide web 

 electronic publication. Website: http://www.fishbase.org 

 version (07/2006) (accessed August 2006). 



^ Sehratwieser, J. 2006. Personal commun. International 

 Game Fish Association, 300 Gulf Stream Way, Dania Beach, 

 Florida. .33004. 



