carolinus and T. falcatus occurs offshore. (We caught 

 the smaller specimens further offshore than the 

 larger.) 2) Trachinotus carolinus begins spawning in 

 May, and subsequently juveniles begin arriving in- 

 shore in waves. (We evidently sampled the first 

 wave.) 3) Recruitment of T. falcatus occurs year- 

 round on Florida beaches; May through October on 

 Georgia beaches. (To this we can add the 12.7 mm in- 

 dividual caught off Cape Fear in January, which 

 attests both to the possibility of winter spawning and 

 to the utilization of the Gulf Stream by postlarvae.) 4) 

 Trachinotus goodei is comparatively rare along the 

 south Atlantic coast — the main part of its range oc- 

 curring further south — and spawning apparently oc- 

 curs in late summer and fall. (Our summer and fall 

 catches off St. Lucie Inlet near the Gulf Stream in- 

 dicate an origin to the south.) 



CORYPHAENIDAE 



Table G. — Dolphin (C hippurus): number caught and length 

 range (mm FL) by cruise. One specimen (112.9 mm FL) from 

 October cruise not included. 



Coryphaena equisetis Linnaeus 

 pompano dolphin 

 D-67-4 May 



HH-7, 2, 17.9-24.5 



LL-5, 2, 34.0-37.8 

 D-67-8 Jul-Aug 



KK-6, 1, 11.4 

 D-67-16 Oct 



KK-6, 5, 28.7-43.4 



LL-4, 1, 16.7 



MM-3, 1, 19.0 



NN-2, 1, 17.7 



PP-3. 1. 17.8 

 D-68-1 Jan-Feb 



NN-4, 1, 70.6 



PP-3, 1, 10.8 

 Coryphaena hippurus Linnaeus 

 dolphin 

 D-67-4 May 



EE-6, 2, 25.4-28.5 



HH-7. 3, 18.0-26.1 



KK-6, 2, 30.4-32.3 



LL-5, 4, 17.8-18.5 



NN-2, 3, 13.9-28.4 



NN-3, 1, 14.7 



NN-4, 2, 13.7-21.5 



PP-2, 1, 17.0 

 D-67-8 Jul-Aug 



AA-7, 1, 30.5 



BB-4, 1, 13.6 



BB-6, 1, 23.7 



CC-6, 2, 17.5-22.1 



DD-6, 1, 23.2 



GG-7, 2, 23.1-32.3 



JJ-2, 1. 16.1 

 J.J-6. 1. 29.8 

 KK-.5, 1, 39.0 

 KK-6. 1, 11.3 

 LL-5, 7, 15.4-28.9 

 MM-2. 1. 24.4 

 NN-1, 1, 15.1 

 NN-2. 3. 15.7-49.0 

 NN-3. 1, 17.9 

 PP-1, 1, 15.7 

 PP-2, 1. 17.3 



U-67-16 Oct 



AA-7, 2, 18.6-29.9 

 CC-7. 1. ,32.0 

 DD-6, 1. 13.8 

 EE-6, I, 18.9 

 FF-5, 1, 35.6 

 FF-6, 2, 16.0-mut. 

 JJ-4, 1, 32.0 

 KK-3. 1, 15.2 

 KK-4, 1, 112.9 

 KK-5, 2, 28.4-46.6 

 KK-6, 5, 28.7-43.4 

 MM-1. 1, 41.8 

 NN-1, 1, 17.1 

 NN-2, 2, 15.5-18.0 



D-68-1 Jan-Feb 

 LL-3, 1, 48.8 

 MM-4, 1, 23.1 

 NN-4, 1, 31.3 

 PP-1, 2, 18.8-31.5 

 PP-2, 3, 16.9-21.0 

 PP-3, 1, 24.4 



All coryphaenids were X-rayed in order to count 

 vertebrae. No overlap was found between the species. 

 The counts were: Coryphaena equisetis 33 (13-14 -I- 

 19-20), C. hippurus si (13 -(- 18). Table 6 shows the 

 size range of C. hippurus caught during each cruise 

 and indicates spawning occurs at least sometime in 

 every season if not continuously throughout the year. 

 However, neither species was caught north of Cape 



Month 



Length range (mm FL) 



N 



May 

 Jul-Aug 

 Oct 

 Jan-Feb 



13.7-32.3 

 11.3-49.0 

 13.8-46.6 

 16.9-48.8 



18 



27 



21 



9 



Kennedy during the winter, suggesting that spawning 

 then is restricted to areas to the south. 



There were no significant differences between day 

 and night tows in numbers or sizes caught. Apparent- 

 ly, a towing speed of 5 knots (9.27 km/h) is sufficient 

 to prevent daytime net avoidance, at least in postlar- 

 vae less than about 50.0 mm. At larger sizes, juvenile 

 dolphin may acquire the adult habit of lurking below 

 rafts of sargassum and other flotsam and thus may 

 not be susceptible to capture by surface nets. 



LUTJANIDAE 



Rhumboplites aurorubens (Cuvier) 

 vermilion snapper 

 D-67-8 Jul-Aug 

 FF-3, 1, 23.0 



Lutjanus sp. 



D-67-8 Jul-Aug 

 MM-1, 1, 14.2 

 NN-1, 1, 17.7 



The vermilion snapper was identified by its dorsal 

 count which is distinctive among lutjanids: D: XII, 

 11. The meristic characters of the unidentified Lut- 

 janus are as follows: D: X, 14; A: III, 9; Pect: 16; 

 Caudal: 8, 9, 8, 8; vertebrae: 24 (10 -f- 14). Three 

 western North Atlantic lutjanids share these meristic 

 characters: Lutjanus aya, L. blackfordii, and L. lut- 

 janoides (Anderson 1967). The smaller specimen is il- 

 lustrated in Figure 15. In the larger specimen, pig- 

 ment is generally heavier and extends over the dorsal 

 fin between the third and tenth spines. Pigment on 

 the body forms six bars from nape to peduncle; the 

 posterior three reaching from the dorsal edge of the 

 body to the ventral edge; the anterior three ending at 

 about the midline. The cluster of spots anterior to the 

 eye is extended to the snout tip, and together with a 

 group of spots on the preopercle and opercle creates 

 the impression of a bar through the eye. 



LOBOTIDAE 



Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch) 

 tripletail 

 D-67-16 Oct 

 FF-5, 1, 44.3 



SPARIDAE 



Stenotomux chrysops (Linnaeus) 



scup 



D-67-4 May 



AA-2, 1, 17.3 



AA-5, 1, 15.9 



FF-3, 1, 49.5 



Unidentified 



D-67-4 May 

 HH-2, 1, 15.7 



D-67-16 Oct 

 BB-2, 3, 13.8-14.6 

 DD-2, 1, 13.4 

 EE-2, 1, 13.3 

 HH-6, 2, 10.8-11.1 

 KK-3. 7, 11.7-14.0 



D-68-1 Jan-Feb 

 AA-3, 34, 12.6-15.5 

 AA-4, 39, 11.8-23.1 



24 



