FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 84, NO. 4 



Table 1 .—Densities (no./1 00 m 3 ) of abundant taxa from neritic waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, 



November 1981 -October 1982 1 . 



Wo data for March 1982. 

 2 Density <0. 1/100 m 3 . 



bumper were most abundant near middepth (60%) 

 and least abundant near the bottom (9%). Other 

 abundant carangids included leatherjacket, Oligo- 

 plites saurus; rough scad, Trachurus lathami; and 

 carangid Type A larvae. All carangid Type A lar- 

 vae were <4 mm SL and appear similar to that 

 described as the round scad, Decapterus punctatus, 

 by Aprieto (1974). 



Larvae of gulf butterfish, Peprilus burti, occurred 

 from October to June and harvestfish, P. paru, from 

 May to October (Table 1). Most gulf butterfish (85%) 

 larvae were collected when surface water tempera- 

 tures were <25°C whereas all harvestfish were col- 

 lected when surface water temperatures were above 

 25°C. Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus macula- 

 tus, larvae occurred from April to September but 

 were most abundant in July; most (96%) were col- 

 lected when surface water temperatures exceeded 

 25°C. Most Spanish mackerel (74%) larvae were col- 

 lected near middepth; only 5% were collected near 



the bottom. King mackerel, 5. cavalla, larvae were 

 collected only in September and at a density 

 <0.5/100 m 3 . 



Many taxa occurred in relatively low abundance, 

 and although not included in Table 1, provided addi- 

 tional data on seasonality. These data are presented 

 in the Appendix Table. Only taxa with larvae <10 

 mm SL for a given month (except anguilliform lepto- 

 cephali or sygnathids) were included in the Appen- 

 dix Table, except where noted. 



DISCUSSION 



Data on peak seasonal occurrence of many of the 

 abundant taxa from the present study agree with 

 those of other coastal surveys from the north-central 

 Gulf of Mexico off Mississippi (Stuck and Perry 

 1982) and off Alabama (Williams 1983). During 

 1982, greatest densities of larval menhaden off 

 central Louisiana (the present study) occurred in 



940 



