FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78, NO. 1 



Laboratory plankton tows made in May and in 

 July. Hildebrand and Cable (1934) took specimens 

 of length < 5 mm from July to October off Beaufort, 

 but presence of small juveniles in these months 

 indicated spawning began in May. Larvae were 

 taken from April to October in plankton tows be- 

 tween Chesapeake Bay and Cape Lookout, N.C. 

 (Berrien et al. 1978). 



Spawning apparently occurs in continental 

 shelf waters. I obtained no larvae from South 

 Carolina estuaries, but larvae were abundant in 

 continental shelf plankton tows. Hildebrand and 

 Cable ( 1934) took larvae from the coast to 22 km 

 offshore. Larvae were common in plankton tows in 

 continental shelf waters between Chesapeake Bay 

 and Cape Lookout (Berrien et al. 1978). 



United States, L. fasciatus larvae are easily sepa- 

 rated from all others by pigmentation, fin de- 

 velopment sequence, and preanus distance. Fore- 

 brain pigment and pectoral fin pigment are not 

 present in early larvae (larvae with dorsal and 

 anal fin rays undeveloped or incompletely de- 

 veloped) of other sciaenids of the area, and pig- 

 ment on the anterior surface of the midbrain ap- 

 pears earlier than in other sciaenids of the area. 

 Pectoral fin rays begin development earlier than 

 in other sciaenids of the area, in fact earlier than 

 in larvae of most known teleosts. The preanus 

 distance of >50% SL is greater than in other sci- 

 aenid larvae of the area. 



Bairdiella chrysoura and Stellifer lanceolatus 



Stellifer lanceolatus 



My data point to spawning at least in June and 

 July in South Carolina waters; later spawning 

 may occur but no samples were available from the 

 second half of the year. Hildebrand and Cable 

 ( 1934) reported presence of small larvae from July 

 to September, but their small "S. lanceolatus" 

 were probably L. fasciatus so this report may not 

 be accurate. Welsh and Breder (1923) reported 

 spawning in late spring and early summer on the 

 U.S. east coast, and Dahlberg (1972) reported May 

 to September spawning off Georgia. Fahay (1975) 

 reported a 28.2 mm SL specimen taken in October 

 off Florida. 



Spawning in coastal and estuarine waters 

 rather than continental shelf waters was indi- 

 cated by my observations. Hildebrand and Cable 

 (1934) reported small larvae from the coast to 22 

 km offshore, but again these larvae may have been 

 misidentified. Larvae have been taken in Georgia 

 estuaries (Berrien^). Fahay's (1975) single speci- 

 men was from inshore 7.5 km south of Cape 

 Canaveral; being relatively large, this specimen 

 could have originated in another spawning area. 



Comparisons With Other Larval Sciaenidae 

 Larimus fasciatus 



Although superficially similar to larvae of sev- 

 eral other marine sciaenids, of the southeast 



These species are treated together because they 

 are quite similar as larvae, and resemble larvae of 

 other species, notably Cynoscion regalis (Pearson 

 1941) and Cynoscion nothus (Stender^). Typical 

 larvae of B. chrysoura have a well-developed 

 swath of pigment from nape to cleithral sym- 

 physis, which is not found in larvae of the other 

 species; however, melanophores of the swath may 

 be contracted or faded by preservation. Pigment of 

 the ventral midline posterior to the anus is the 

 most reliable character for separation of B. 

 chrysoura from S. lanceolatus larvae. Both have a 

 melanophore at the posterior end of the anal fin 

 base; however, B. chrysoura has a melanophore 

 anterior to the anal fin base (at 4. 1-7.0 mm SL) and 

 a melanophore at the anterior end of the anal base, 

 while S. lanceolatus has no melanophore anterior 

 to the anal base but has a melanophore just pos- 

 terior to the anterior end of the anal base (at the 

 base of the second anal spine when this is 

 developed). 



Larvae of the two Cynoscion species mentioned 

 can be separated from larval B. chrysoura and S. 

 lanceolatus by careful attention to pigment of the 

 midventral line (Stender see footnote 9; pers. ob- 

 serv.). Identification of small larvae with unde- 

 veloped anal fin bases may be difficult, since the 

 characteristic pigment sequences develop (from a 

 row of small melanophores) at about the same 

 time as anal-base development. Presence of a 

 melanophore in the dorsal midline, above the 

 posterior end of the anal base, in most S. lan- 



8Peter L. Berrien, Fishery Biologist, Northeast Fisheries 

 Center Sandy Hook Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Ser- 

 vice, NOAA, Highlands, NJ 07732, pers. commun. May 1975. 



134 



9Bruce W. Stender, Biologist, South Carolina Wildlife and 

 Marine Resource Division, P.O. Box 12559, Charleston, SC 

 29412, pers. commun. February 1978. 



