414 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Table 5. — Average monthly temperatures (° C.) and saHnilies 

 (°/(;o) /<"■ the two areas in Georgia where seine collections 

 were taken 



[The averages were derived from data obtained at time of seining and cover 

 the period March 1953 to January 1956 (sec table 3)] 



25th, but there is reason to beheve that they could 

 be found even as early as late April." He further 

 indicates (fig. 3, p. 203), the smallest specimens 

 normally procurable are 20 to 21 mm. long, and 

 specimens of that size occur until September. In 

 summary, Jacot (1920, p. 227) makes these addi- 

 tional general observations: (1) the young are 

 abundant in the bays and estuaries of our Atlantic 

 coast and develop rapidly; (2) in the fall the 

 young school and migrate south; and (3) after 

 their first year, white mullet are seldom caught 

 north of Florida. 



Thus we have the same sudden appearance of 

 the young in the beach and estuarine waters in 

 both North Carolina and Georgia during the 

 spring at a length which is comparable (17 to 25 

 mm.) and which coincides with the length (25 

 mm.) above which the young were not taken in 

 dip-net collections at sea. In both North Carolina 

 and Georgia the population of juvenile silver 

 mullet, resulting from the previous spring spawn- 

 ing, seems to disappear from the estuarine and 

 beach areas by late fall or early winter, so that 

 these young are apparently scarce or absent 

 entirely during the winter. It is quite likely that 

 a similar situation exists in South Carolina waters. 



Jacot thought the juveniles were migrating 

 south and intimated they were moving to Florida 

 waters. I have no direct evidence to substantiate 

 or refute this theory. The only silver mullet 

 more than 25 ir.m. long which I have taken in 

 offshore waters along our South Atlantic coast 

 were the mature and spawning fish off the lower 

 Florida coast near the 20-fathom line. It is more 

 logical to assume a southward migration along the 

 Florida coast where a habitat ascribed to mullet in 



general is available than to assume an offshore 

 movement. My guess is that the exodus of 

 juveniles is hastened by cooling of the waters 

 during the fall, but whether or not temperature 

 is the major controlling factor is not known. 

 Perhaps the young would have migrated even- 

 tually regardless of temperature, but we cannot 

 disregard the correlation of their disappearance 

 with rapidly falling water temperatures in our 

 marsh and beach areas during late fall and early 

 winter (table 5). There does not seem to be a 

 population of adult silver mullet in our inshore 

 waters of the Carolinas and Georgia commensurate 

 with the numbers of young there during spring 

 and summer. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Ahlstrom, Elbert H., and Orville P. Ball. 



1954. Description of eggs and larvae of jack mackerel 

 (Trachurus symmeiricus) and distribution and 

 abundance of larvae in 1950 and 1951. U. S. 

 Dept. Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Fish. 

 Bull., No. 97, vol. 56, pp. 209-245. 

 Anderson, William W., Jack W. Gehringer, and 

 Edward Cohen. 



1956. Physical oceanographie, biological, and chemi- 

 cal data. South Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States, M/V Theodore N. Gill Cruise 1. U. S. 

 Dept. Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Spec. 

 Set. Rept. Fisheries No. 178, 160 pp. 

 Higgins, Elmer. 



1928. Progress in biological inquiries, 1926. U. S. 

 Dept. Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries, Doc. 1029, 

 In Rept. Comm. Fish, for 1927, pp. 517-681. 

 Idyll, Clarence P. 



1949. Stop-netting on the west coast of Florida. 

 State of Florida, Bd. of Cons. Tech. Ser. No. 3, 

 23 pp. 

 Jacot, Arthur Paul. 



1920. Age, growth and scale characters of the 

 mullets, Mugil cephalus and Afugil curema. 

 Trans. Am. Microscop. Soc, vol. XXXIX, No. 3, 

 July 1920, pp. 199-229, pis. XX-XXVI, 7 figs. 

 Hildebrand, Samuel F., and William C. Schroeder. 

 1928. Fishes of Chesapeake Bay. Bull. U. S. 

 Bureau of Fisheries, vol. 43, Part 1, 388 pp. 



Hollister, Gloria. 



1937. Caudal skeleton of Bermuda shallow water 

 fishes. II. Order Percomorphi, suborder Per- 

 cesoces: Atherinidae, Mugilidae, Sphyraenidae. 

 Zoologica, vol. XXII, Part 3, No. 17, pp. 265-279. 



Schultz, Leonard P.  



1946. A revision of the genera of mullets, fishes of the 

 family Mugilidae, with descriptions of three new 

 genera. Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, vol. 96, No. 

 3204, pp. 377-395. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1957 O— 4231B2 



