723 



Abstract— Larval and juvenile devel- 

 opment of finescale menhaden (Bre- 

 voortia gunteri) is described for the 

 first time by using wild-caught indi- 

 viduals from Nueces Bay, Texas, and 

 is compared with larval and juvenile 

 development of co-occurring gulf 

 menhaden (B. patronus). Meristics. 

 morphometries, and pigmentation pat- 

 terns were examined as development 

 proceeded. An illustrated series of 

 finescale menhaden is presented to 

 show changes that occurred during 

 development. For finescale menhaden, 

 transformation to the juvenile stage 

 was completed by 17-19 mm standard 

 length (SL). By contrast, transfor- 

 mation to the juvenile stage for gulf 

 menhaden was not complete until 2.3- 

 25 mm SL. Characteristics useful for 

 separating larval and juvenile fines- 

 cale menhaden from gulf menhaden 

 included 1) the presence or absence of 

 pigment at the base of the insertion of 

 the pelvic fins; 2) the standard length 

 at which medial predorsal pigment 

 occurs; 3) differences in the number 

 of dorsal fin ray elements; and, 4) the 

 number of vertebrae. 



Descriptions of larval, prejuvenile, and 



juvenile finescale menhaden 



(Brevoortia gunteri) (family Clupeidae), 



and comparisons to gulf menhaden (B. patronus) 



James M. Tolan 



Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 



6300 Ocean Dr., NRC 2501 



Corpus Christ!, Texas 78412 



E-mail address: James Tolan @tpwd. state. tx. us 



David A. Newstead 



Center for Coastal Studies 

 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi 

 6300 Ocean Dr., NRC 3216 

 Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 



Manuscript submitted 9 September 2003 

 to the Scientific Editor's Office. 



Manuscript approved for publication 

 14 June 2004 by the Scientific Editor. 



Fish. Bull. 102:723-732 (20041. 



Finescale menhaden {Brevoortia gun- 

 teri Hildebrand), one of three recog- 

 nized species of menhaden (Reintjes, 

 1969; Hettler. 1984) found in the Gulf 

 of Mexico, occurs in the northern and 

 western Gulf of Mexico, from Chande- 

 leur Bay, Louisiana, to Campeche Bay, 

 west of Punto Morros (McEachran 

 and Fechhelm, 1998). Despite their 

 common occurrence in coastal and 

 estuarine waters along the Texas and 

 Mexico coasts (Simmons, 1957; Helher, 

 1962; Hoese, 1965; Whitehead, 1985; 

 Castillo-Rivera and Kobelkowsky, 

 2000), their early development has 

 not been described. Early develop- 

 ment of gulf menhaden (B. patronus 

 Goode), on the other hand, has been 

 well described (Suttkus, 1956; Hettler, 

 1984; Ahrenholz, 1991). 



In coastal waters of the western 

 Gulf of Mexico, finescale menhaden 

 are spatially and temporally sym- 

 patric with gulf menhaden (Castillo- 

 Rivera et al., 1996). Gulf menhaden 

 are found throughout the northern 

 gulf from Florida Bay to Campeche 

 Bay. Yellowfin menhaden \B. smithi 

 Hildebrand) are found in the eastern 

 gulf from the Mississippi River Delta 

 to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 

 and co-occur with finescale menha- 

 den only in its extreme western range 

 (Dahlberg, 1970; Hoese and Moore, 

 1977 ). A large amount of hybrid intro- 

 gression occurs between gulf and yel- 

 lowfin menhaden, although finescale 



hybrids (either finescalexgulf menha- 

 den or finescalexyellowfin menhaden) 

 have not been reported (Ahrenholz, 

 1991). 



Both finescale and gulf menhaden 

 are estuarine-dependent species in- 

 habiting shallow nursery areas for 

 their early development (Gunter, 

 1945; Shaw et al., 1985; Castillo-Ri- 

 vera and Kobelkowsky, 2000). Gulf 

 menhaden are intermittent or multi- 

 ple spawners (Christmas and Waller, 

 1975; Lewis and Roithmayr, 1981), 

 and adults move offshore in late sum- 

 mer and early fall. Spawning off the 

 coast of Texas is protracted, and the 

 spawning season begins at the end of 

 August and continues through April 

 (Shaw et al.. 1985). Estuarine immi- 

 gration of gulf menhaden ranging in 

 size from 10 to 32 mm TL has been 

 observed from late October through 

 April (Copeland, 1965: Gallaway and 

 Strawn, 1974; Allshouse, 1983). In 

 Nueces Bay, the greatest densities of 

 gulf menhaden larvae are seen from 

 late February to early May, and the 

 peak immigration of 19-26 mm TL 

 individuals occurs from late April and 

 early May (Newstead, 2003). Fines- 

 cale menhaden spawn in estuarine or 

 nearshore areas (Gunter, 1945; Sim- 

 mons, 1957) and their spawning sea- 

 son has been reported from November 

 to March (Ahrenholz, 1991). Hellier 

 (1962) reported 25-mm-TL specimens 

 taken from the Upper Laguna Madre 



