COLLETTE and RUSSO: SPANISH MACKERELS 



food consists largely of fishes with smaller quan- 

 tities of penaeoid shrimps and loliginid cephalo- 

 pods. The most important component of the food 

 of 1,020 individuals (17.5-87.5 cm FL) from north- 

 eastern Brazil was the thread herring, Opistho- 

 nema oglinum, (more than 25%) followed by 

 Engraulidae, Carangidae, Hemiramphidae, and 

 Pomadasyidae (Menezes 1970). 



Interest to fisheries. — This is an important food 

 fish throughout its range — Colombia (Dahl 1971), 

 Venezuela (Cervigon 1966), Trinidad (Sturm 

 1978), the Guianas (Gines and Cervigon 1968), 

 and especially in northeastern Brazil. The fish- 

 ery is concentrated in June-August in Trinidad 

 (Sturm 1978) but is conducted year round in 

 northeastern Brazil (Alcantara Filho 1972a). The 

 fishing grounds are 5-16 mi offshore in Brazil 

 (Fonteles Filho 1968; Alcantara Filho 1972a). 

 Most of the catch previously reported as S. macu- 

 latus from Fishing Area 31 (Western Central 

 Atlantic) for Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and 



Venezuela is S. brasiliensis as is also a large 

 proportion of the Brazilian catch of Scomberomo- 

 rus spp. In Trinidad, it is taken by drift gill nets 

 that are fished overnight and with beach seines 

 (Sturm 1978). There are two major fisheries in 

 Brazil. One employs gill nets (rede-de-pesca) from 

 wooden boats not over 10 m long powered by gaso- 

 line engines (Fonteles Filho 1968; Alcantara Filho 

 1972a). The other method is trolling from rafts 

 (Fonteles Filho 1968; Costa and Almeida 1974). 

 Most of the catch is consumed fresh, but in Brazil 

 some has been salted (Paiva and Costa 1966) and 

 some has been canned (Bastos et al. 1973). 



Distribution. — Caribbean and Atlantic coasts of 

 Central and South America from Belize at least 

 as far south as Lagoa Tramandai, Rio Grande do 

 Sul, Brazil (Fig. 49). Previously confused with, 

 but not known to overlap the range of, S. macula- 

 tus which occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and along 

 the Atlantic coast of the United States. Replaced 

 in the West Indies by S. regalis. 



FIGURE 49. — Ranges of the regalis -group of Scomberomorus : S. tritor, S. maculatus, S. regalis, S. brasiliensis , 

 S. sierra, and S. concolor. (Range of S. regalis more extensive, see text.) 



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