EGGS AND LARVAE OF SCOMBER SCOMBRUS AND 



SCOMBER JAPONICUS IN CONTINENTAL SHELF WATERS 



BETWEEN MASSACHUSETTS AND FLORIDA 



Peter L. Berrien' 



ABSTRACT 



Larval Scomber scombrus and Scomber japonicus from the western North Atlantic Ocean are com- 

 pared. At 4 to 11 mm S. japonicus are deeper bodied, and at 3 to 15 mm have greater preanus lengths 

 than S. scombrus of comparable sizes. Scomber scombrus larvae are more heavily pigmented than S. 

 japonicus, particularly on the dorsal trunk surface and at the cleithral sympysis. 



In continental shelf waters between Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla., 1966-68, S. 

 scombrus eggs occurred north of Cape Hatteras, N.C., mostly in the shoreward half of shelf waters, 

 during spring and summer. Surface temperatures associated with egg occurrences varied from 6.3° to 

 16.9°C. Scomber japonicus eggs were taken south of Cape Hatteras, in the outer half of shelf waters, 

 during winter and spring cruises. Surface temperatures associated with egg occurrences ranged from 

 20.4° to 25.4°C. 



Larval S. scombrus occurred north of Cape Hatteras during spring and summer with concurrent 

 surface temperatures ranging from 12.3°to20.7°C. With the exception of three specimens, S. japonicus 

 larvae occurred south of Cape Hatteras and were taken where the surface temperature rsmged from 

 16.0°to29.4°C. 



Despite an abundance of publications describing 

 the young stages of Atlantic mackerel, Scomber 

 scombrus Linnaeus, and their occurrences in the 

 western North Atlantic (Dannevig 1919; Sette 

 1943; Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; Berrien 1975), 

 very little information exists on young of the con- 

 generic chub mackerel. Scomber japonicus Hout- 

 tuyn, from the same area. There are no descrip- 

 tions of S. Japonicus eggs, larvae, or juveniles from 

 the western North Atlantic, although there are 

 excellent descriptions of specimens from the 

 Pacific Ocean (Fry 1936a; Orton 1953; Uchida et 

 al. 1958; Kramer 1960; Watanabe 1970) and some 

 brief descriptions of this species from European 

 waters (Ehrenbaum 1924; Padoa 1956). Ehren- 

 baum (1924), Padoa (1956), and Dekhnik (1959) 

 compared larvae of the two species. Reports of 

 young S. japonicus in the western North Atlantic 

 are limited to those by Anderson and Gehringer 

 (1958), Dooley (1972), Fahay (1975), and de 

 Sylva.2 Although adults of S. japonicus are known 

 to range from the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Leim and 

 Scott 1966) to Bermuda and the Gulf of Mexico 



•Northeast Fisheries Center Sandy Hook Laboratory, Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Highlands, NJ 07732. 



^de Sylva, D. P. 1970. Ecology and distribution of postlar- 

 val fishes of southern Biscayne Bay, Florida. Prog. Rep. to Div. 

 Water Qual. Res., Water Qual. Off., U.S. Environ. Prot. Agency 

 Contract FWQA 18050 Div. Rosenstiel School Mar. Atmos. Sci., 

 Univ. Miami, 198 p. (Unpubl. manuscr.) 



(Briggs 1958) in the western Atlantic, they occur 

 irregularly along the U.S. east coast. In various 

 years they have been abundant, uncommon, or 

 absent (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928; Bigelow 

 and Schroeder 1953). This species apparently in- 

 habits warmer waters than does S. scombrus 

 (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; Matsui 1967). 



The purposes of this paper are: 1) to present 

 descriptive, comparative information on two 

 species of Scomber larvae, in order to facilitate 

 their identification; and 2) to compare the spawn- 

 ing areas of the two species as indicated by occur- 

 rences of Scomber young taken between Mas- 

 sachusetts and Florida. 



Specimens utilized in this study were taken 

 primarily during ichthyoplankton survey cruises 

 by the RV Dolphin in continental shelf waters 

 from December 1965 to February 1968 between 

 Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla. 

 Some larvae in the descriptive section were taken 

 on other cruises during April 1971 and June 1972, 

 within the same area. 



PROCEDURES 



Sampling 



Eight plankton sampling cruises were con- 

 ducted between December 1965 and December 



Manuscript accepted June 1977. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 76, No. 1, 1978. 



95 



