204 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SPOT, LEIOSTOMUS XANTHURUS 



(LACEPEDE) 



Spot; Flat croaker; Lafayette 



Leiostomui lanthuTus Lac^pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 1803, p. 439; Jordan and Everraann. 1896-1900. p. 1458, PI. CCXXIII, fig 

 5r,9; VVelsli and Breder, 1923, p. 177; Hildehrand and Schroeder, 1928, p. 271. 



DESCRIPTION OF ADULT 



The adult spot may be distinguished from other closely related species by its 

 comparatively short compressed body, elevated back, short head, blunt snout, and 

 small horizontal mouth. The color above is 'bluish gray with golden refections; 

 silvery beneath; the sides have from 12 to 15 oblique yellowish (dusky in preserved 

 specimens) bars in fish above 50 millimeters (2 inches). A large yellowish black 

 spot is found on the shoulder, and the fins generally are pale. (See fig. 42.) 



DESCRIPTION OF YOUNG 



Young fish, 7 to 15 millimeters long, generally are more slender than the adults 

 and usually are lacking in pronounced pigmentation, which distinguishes them from 

 related species. A specimen measuring 7 millimeters had the larval fin fold extending 

 from the vent to the anal fin, as well as both dors^lly and ventrally along the caudal 

 peduncle. The presence of 12 anal rays and the lack of pigmentation on the body 

 separate the fish from other sciaenoids. A truncate caudal fin also is a character 

 that serves to distinguish the species in its young stages. (See figs. 39 and 40.) 

 Young spots 20 to 50 millimeters (0.8 to 2 inches) long are quite pale, with the sides 

 of the head silvery and the sides of the body and back with a row of dark blotches 

 composed of dusky punctulations. (See fig. 41.) 



SPAWNING AND EARLY DISTRIBUTION OF YOUNG 



Along the Texas coast the spot spawns in the Gulf of Mexico in close pro.ximity 

 to the mouths of the passes that lead into the intercoastal waters. The spawning 

 season is extended from late December until the last of March, but the height of the 

 period is reached during January and February. The larval and post larval fish 

 enter the bays and lagoon in great numbers and become distributed over a large 

 extent of territory in a manner comparable to that of the croaker. 



The first collection of larval and post larval fish that resulted from the spawning 

 season of 1926-27 was secured on December 23, 1926, in the Gulf of Mexico outside 

 of Aransas Pass by means of a small seine that was swept along the shore north of 

 the rock jetties. A few weeks previous this locality yielded large numbers of larval 

 and post larval croakers, and it was soon learned that the young spots could be 

 taken in the same localities where the croakers were a short time before. The newly 

 hatched spots were extremely abundant around both Aransas and Corpus Christi 

 Passes throughout January and February, and the young spread rapidly throughout 

 all the bays and lagoons. (See Table 30.) 



