FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 76, NO. 1 



Santa Catarina; Aug. 1976. MPIP 0013 (1, 425); 

 Santa Catarina; Aug. 1976. MZUSP 1329-30 (2, 

 405-600); Santa Catarina; Dec. 1976. MPIP 0014 

 ( 1, 405); Santa Catarina; Dec. 1976. MZUSP 13294 

 (1, 372); axial skelton; Santa Catarina; Jan. 1977. 

 CAS-SU 52986 (1, 416); Rio Grande do Sul. 

 MZUSP 13295-6 (2, 240-245); Rio Grande do Sul. 

 Lagoa Tramandai; May 1977; MCZ 17158 (4, 136- 

 216); Brazil. 



Other material. — 28 specimens (111-520 mm FL) 

 from 15 collections arranged here by country from 

 north to south. BELIZE: BMNH 1864.1.26.304-5 

 (2, 217-230); Salvin. HONDURAS: UF-TABL 

 67-106 (1, 243); 15°21'N, 83°34'W; 10 Apr 

 1967. Costa Rica: 3(172-194) from 2 collections 

 LACM 30727-13 (2, 191-194); Canuita Bay; W 

 Bussing and party. LACM 30726-3 (1, 172) 

 Canuita Bay; W. Bussing and party. PANAMA 

 4(114-225) from 2 collections. ANSP 86721 (1, 

 225); Balboa; 5th G. Vanderbilt Exped. ; 1 1- 14 Apr. 

 1941. ANSP 45270 (3, 114-182); Colon market; D. 

 E. Hanover; June 1945. COLOMBIA: USNM 

 217433 (1, 326); Choco cruise 6908, stn. 127, 

 9°22.1'N, 75°36.4'W; 6 Sept. 1969. VENEZUELA: 

 9(89-520) from 3 collections. ZMA 1 14.581 ( 1, 520); 

 Puerto Cabello; 10 Aug. 1905. USNM 121802 (2, 

 296-330); Maracaibo market; L. P. Schultz; 15 

 May 1942. UDONECI 1071 (6, 89-198); Peder- 

 nales; 3 July 1974. TRINIDAD: 8(260-311) from 5 

 collections. BMNH 1931.12.5.173 (1, 260); Gulf of 

 Paria; Totten, Rodney. ANSP 94311 (2, 278-311); 

 Brighton Pier; L. Wehekind; 10 May 1930. ANSP 

 94325 (2, 280-287); Brighton Pier No. 2; L. 

 Wehekind; 7 May 1930. ANSP 94329 ( 2, 268-289); 

 Brighton Pier No. 2; L. Wehekind; 17 May 1930. 

 UF-TABL uncat. (1, 233); M/V Calamar cruise 

 67-B, stn. 260; 13 Nov. 1967. SURINAM: RMNH 

 24764(1, 111). 



DISCUSSION 



Although it is a common fish, Scomberomorus 

 brasiliensis has not been formally described be- 

 cause adults closely resemble S. maculatus in 

 their spotted pattern. The juveniles are similar to 

 S. regalis in having low vertebral counts (47-49) 

 and have probably been confounded with that 

 species (which is actually uncommon in the range 

 of S. brasiliensis off the coasts of Central and 

 South America). 



A fairly extensive literature pertains to S. 

 brasiliensis (as S. maculatus) dating back to 



278 



Ribeiro ( 1915). Particularly important are a series 

 of 30 papers on various biological and fisheries 

 aspects of S. brasiliensis from Laboratorio de 

 Ciencias do Mar da Universidade Federal do 

 Ceara at Fortaleza, Brazil. Bastos (1966) sum- 

 marized morphometric and meristic data for 90 

 specimens ( 163-553 mm FL). His gill raker counts 

 (usually 2 + 1 + 11 = 14 or 3 + 1 + 11 =15) 

 agree closely with ours (Table 3). His vertebral 

 counts (26 specimens wdth 46 and 55 specimens 

 with 47) are 1 less than ours (Table 1) because he 

 presumably did not include the hypural plate in 

 his counts as we did. Menezes ( 1972) also counted 

 gill rakers and found no differences between 

 counts for 225 males and 275 females; the most 

 typical count was 3 -I- 1 + 11 = 15. 



The digestive tract was studied both grossly and 

 histologically by Mota Alves ( 1969). The histology 

 of the pyloric caeca of S. brasiliensis was found 

 similar to that found in S. cavalla by Mota Alves 

 and Tome ( 1970). The pyloric caeca were found to 

 contain the same enzymes as the intestine in both 

 species — lipase, maltase, and trypsin but the 

 pyloric caeca in S. brasiliensis also contained pep- 

 sin which was restricted to the stomach in S. 

 cavalla. 



The food of S. brasiliensis in the State of Ceara 

 was studied around the year by Menezes (1970). 

 Fish composed the major part of the diet; penaeid 

 shrimps and loliginid cephalopods also were im- 

 portant. The most important fishes were, in order: 

 Opisthonema oglinum, Engraulidae, Chloroscom- 

 brus chrysurus, Hemiramphus sp., and Haemulon 

 spp. The diet of S. maculatus in southeastern 

 Florida is similar to this according to Klima 

 (1959), consisting mostly of clupeids (especially 

 Harengula pensacolae) plus Penaeus, engraulids, 

 and other fishes. 



Mota Alves and Tome (1968a) reported on the 

 sexual development of S. brasiliensis and recog- 

 nized five developmental stages in the ovary. They 

 also (1968b) described the sperm. Gesteira (1972) 

 found that females first become sexually mature 

 at about 460 mm FL at an age of III or IV. She 

 presented equations for calculating fecundity 

 based on length, age, and weight. Klima (1959) 

 found that the smallest mature female S. 

 maculatus from southeastern Florida was 250 mm 

 FL and that both sexes matured at age I or II. 



Length-frequency data for S. brasiliensis (and 

 S. cavalla) were collected and published annually, 

 starting vdth the data for 1962 and continuing 

 through 1969 by Costa and Paiva and then for 



