42 



Fishery Bulletin 92(1). 1994 



and August (Appendix Table 2). These findings sup- 

 port Baughman's (1941) observation that eggs in 

 gravid females are largest during July and August 

 and small or absent thereafter. Larvae are collected 

 primarily during August and September off Japan 

 (Uchida et al., 1958). 



Tripletail spawn offshore. This hypothesis of off- 

 shore spawning is supported by the collection of all 

 larvae <5.0 mm at stations on the outer shelf and 

 in oceanic waters. We found no published informa- 

 tion on larval distribution as related to water tem- 

 perature, salinity, or station depth of capture. 



Larval and juvenile tripletail are collected prima- 

 rily in surface tows (Uchida et al., 1958; this study). 

 Juveniles are often collected with drifting sea weeds, 

 including Sargassum, and near floating objects 

 (Baughman, 1943; Breder, 1949; Uchida et al., 1958; 

 Dooley, 1972; Benson, 1982) as they float on their 

 side (Gudger, 1931; Breder, 1949). The size at which 

 tripletail become associated with drifting sea weeds 

 is poorly known, but Uchida et al. (1958) collected 

 juveniles between 10.0 and 20.0 mm TL in seaweeds. 



Adult tripletail occur primarily in gulf waters, but 

 enter passes, inlets, and bays near river mouths 

 (Gudger, 1931; Baughman, 1941). The degree to 

 which tripletail utilize estuaries during their life 

 history is unknown. Juveniles are apparently not 

 uncommon (although they may be sporadic) in Gulf 

 coast estuaries during the summer. We examined 

 eight specimens (14.5-26.0 mm) collected at the 

 surface in waters <3 m deep (Fig. 5). Modde and 

 Ross (1981) collected 236 juvenile tripletail (size 

 range not given) during 1976 in the surf zone of 

 Horn Island, Mississippi, but only one during 1975 

 and five during 1977. Juveniles also occur in shal- 

 low waters (1-3 m) within the Barataria Bay sys- 

 tem of Louisiana. 2 In contrast, juvenile and adult 

 tripletail in the Indian River lagoon off the east 

 coast of Florida occupy areas which average 30—31 

 ppt. The lagoon typically goes hypersaline, to 40 ppt, 

 during spring when most tripletails first appear in 

 the lagoon. Tripletail have not been observed or 

 captured in extensive collections of oligohaline ar- 

 eas of the St. Lucie River and Sebastian Creek. 3 



Adult tripletail generally occur along the Gulf 

 coast from April through early October (Baughman, 

 1941) and are caught in great numbers in Mobile 

 Bay, Alabama, and along the Mississippi coast dur- 

 ing summer (Baughman, 1941). Greatest concentra- 

 tions of adults are found along the northern Gulf 

 from St. Marks, Florida, to the St. Bernard River, 



2 Leroy Kennair, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc., New Orleans, LA., 

 pers. commun. 1993. 



3 R. Grant Gilmore, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 

 Fort Pierce, FL, pers. commun. 1993. 



Texas (Baughman, 1941). Seasonality of adults sug- 

 gests that tripletail migrate south during fall and 

 winter and return in spring (Merriner and Foster, 

 1974). Tripletail congregate around sea buoys, bea- 

 cons, pilings, and other objects (Gudger, 1931) but 

 have been collected in a wide variety of habitats 

 including rocky and coral reef areas in deeper wa- 

 ter (Baughman, 1941). 



Acknowledgments 



This study was supported by the Marine Fisheries 

 Initiative (MARFIN) Program (contract numbers: 

 NA90AA-H-MF111 and NA90AA-H-MF727). We 

 thank SEAMAP and the Gulf States Marine Fish- 

 eries Commission for providing specimens and en- 

 vironmental data, and the Louisiana Board of Re- 

 gents and the LaSER (Louisiana Stimulus for Ex- 

 cellence in Research, contract number 86-LUM(D- 

 083/13) program for support during July 1987, April 

 1988, and October 1990 ichthyoplankton cruises. We 

 also thank those who loaned us specimens or pro- 

 vided data: Churchill Grimes, NMFS, Southeast 

 Fisheries Center, Panama City, FL; Wayne Forman 

 and Leroy Kennair, Freeport-McMoRan, New Or- 

 leans, LA.; Stuart Poss, Gulf Coast Research Lab, 

 Ocean Springs, MS. Thanks also to Cathy Grouchy 

 for illustrating larvae, to Joseph S. Cope for computer 

 assistance, and to Laura Younger for providing scan- 

 ning electromicrographs of the frontal and occipital 

 bones. Finally, we thank the reviewers for their com- 

 ments in substantially improving the mansucript. 



Literature cited 



Baughman, J. L. 



1941. On the occurrence in the Gulf coast waters 

 of the United States of the triple tail, Lobotes 

 surinamensis, with notes on its natural 

 history. Am. Nat. 75:569-579. 



1943. Additional notes on the occurrence and natu- 

 ral history of the triple tail, Lobotes 

 surinamensis. Am. Midi. Nat. 29(2):365-370. 

 Benson, N. G. (ed.). 



1982. Life history requirements of selected finfish 

 and shellfish in Mississippi Sound and adjacent 

 areas. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv., Office Biol. 

 Serv., Washington, D.C., FWS/OBS-81/51, 97 p. 

 Breder, C. M., Jr. 



1949. On the behavior of young Lobotes surinam- 

 ensis. Copeia 1949(4):237-242. 

 Dooley, J. K. 



1972. Fishes associated with the pelagic sargassum 

 complex, with a discussion of the sargassum 

 community. Contrib. Mar. Sci., Univ. Texas 16:1-32. 



