FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 4 



coast of Florida from June to October with larvae 

 <3.1 mm taken in June, August, and September 

 (Dwinell and Futch 1973). Most of these larvae 

 and juveniles were taken in surface plankton 

 tows at surface temperatures of 26.3°-31.0°C and 

 salinities of 26.92-35.01 . Larvae were taken in 

 increasing numbers from May to September (35% 

 or more of larvae in September of each year) in 

 the western Gulf of Mexico, particularly over the 

 middle and outer continental shelf (McEachran 

 et al. 1980). Larvae and juveniles have been 

 described and illustrated by Wollam (1970; 3 

 figures, 3.3-23 mm SL), Fritzsche (1978; 12 fig- 

 ures, 2.98-17 mm), and Richardson and McEach- 

 ran (1981, 2.3 mm SL). As with other members of 

 the genus, food consists primarily of fishes with 

 smaller quantities of penaeoid shrimps and squids 

 (Knapp 1950, Texas; Randall 1967, Caribbean; 

 Menezes 1969a, northeastern Brazil; Beaumar- 

 iage 1973, Florida; DeVane 1978, North Carolina; 

 Saloman and Naughton 1983a, United States). 

 Clupeids such as Opisthonema, Harengula, Sar- 

 dinella, and Brevoortia are particularly impor- 

 tant (Randall 1967; Menezes 1969a; Beaumariage 

 1973; DeVane 1978; Saloman and Naughton 

 1983a), even in juveniles 103-309 mm FL (Naugh- 

 ton and Saloman 1981). Other fishes commonly 

 consumed include Carangidae (particularly De- 

 capterus), Lutjanidae, Pomadasyidae, and Hemi- 

 ramphidae (Randall 1967; Menezes 1969a; Beau- 

 mariage 1973; Saloman and Naughton 1983a). 



Interest to fisheries. — The king mackerel is an 

 important species for recreational, commercial, 

 or artisanal fisheries throughout its range from 

 southeastern United States to northeastern Bra- 

 zil. North of southern Florida, the fishery is 

 concentrated in the summer months. In North 

 Carolina, sport fishing is carried out from April 

 to December (DeVane 1978) but is concentrated 

 in spring and fall (Taylor 1951). In the Panama 

 City area of the Florida panhandle, fish are taken 

 from April to November and are most often 

 caught in August and September (Fable et al. 

 1981). From December to March the fishery along 

 the east coast of Florida is concentrated from 

 Jupiter Inlet to Palm Beach Inlet, the rest of the 

 year the fishery is further north from Ft. Pierce 

 to Sebastian Inlet (Beaumariage 1973). There is a 

 winter commercial fishery in the Florida Keys 

 (Beaumariage 1973). King mackerel are taken all 

 year in Louisiana with a maximum in November- 

 January (Fischer 1980). King mackerel is the 

 main species of commercial interest along the 



coast of northeastern Brazil where they are taken 

 all year (Nomura and Rodrigues 1967). The main 

 fishing grounds in northeastern Brazil are 6-16 

 nmi from the coastline (Fonteles Filho 1968). An 

 historical summary of the fishery in the United 

 States has been presented by Lyles (1969). Com- 

 mercial catches in the United States have aver- 

 aged 2,541 t a year with a value of $1.3 million 

 over 17 yr with a peak in 1974 of 4,764 t (Manooch 

 1979). The bulk of these landings were made in 

 Florida by hook and line and gill net fisheries 

 (Manooch 1979). Data on the large recreational 

 catch are inadequate. The catch reported from 

 Fishing Area 31 (Western Central Atlantic) to- 

 talled 7,122 t in 1982 (FAO 1984) but is higher 

 than this because much of the catch of 1,105 tons 

 of unclassified Scomberomorus species is S. ca- 

 ualla (or S. regalis). It is fished for with hook and 

 line in all the southeastern United States (Trent 

 et al. 1981). In addition, there is a commercial 

 fishery using snapper hooks and line in Missis- 

 sippi, a commercial gill net fishery in southern 

 Florida, and commercial hook and line fisheries 

 in North Carolina and southern Florida (Trent et 

 al. 1981). The gill net fishery has employed power 

 block retrieval since 1963 and aerial spotting is 

 sometimes used (Beaumariage 1973). The king 

 mackerel is the staple of the charter boat indus- 

 try in Florida and is the most sought fish by 

 private boats (Moe 1963). In Florida it is most 

 often fished at the surface with trolled lure or 

 small bait fish (Moe 1963). It is less commonly 

 caught than is S. brasiliensis across the northern 

 coast of South America (Dahl 1971; Cervigon 

 1966; Gines and Cervigon 1968). Both gill nets 

 and trolling are used in northeastern Brazil, the 

 former catching 87.6% II-IV yr fish and the lat- 

 ter 78.2% IV-VI yr fishes (Alcantara Filho 

 1972b). The Brazilian fishery is also carried out 

 from rafts with hooks baited with thread herring 

 (Fonteles Filho 1968). Most of the catch is pro- 

 cessed into steaks or sold fresh (Lyles 1969), but 

 it has been canned (Bastos et al. 1973) and 

 salted (Paiva and Costa 1966) in northeastern 

 Brazil. 



Distribution. — Western Atlantic Ocean from 

 Massachusetts to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Fig. 51). 

 There are several summer records from the south- 

 ern side of Cape Cod (Dresslar and Fesler 1889; 

 Sumner et al. 1913; Mather 1954; Mather and 

 Gibbs 1957) but only one stray is known to have 

 moved around to the north side of Cape Cod, to 

 North Truro in the Gulf of Maine (Bigelow and 



620 



