MENHADEN EGGS AND LARVAE FROM M/V Theodore N. Gill CRUISES, 

 SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, 1953-54 



by 

 John W. Reintjes 



Fishery Research Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Beaufort, North Carolina 



ABSTRACT 



Menhaden eggs and larvae were collected during the three 

 winter cruises of the Bureau of Connmercial Fisheries research 

 vessel Theodore N. Gill, but not during the six cruises conducted 

 from late April to November. Eggs and newly hatched larvae 

 occurred principally in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, Fla., and 

 Cape Lookout, N. C. Older larvae were widely distributed along 

 the coast from Florida to Cape Hatteras, N. C, during February. 



INTRODUCTION 



Spawning and early larval develop- 

 ment of two species of menhaden, the 

 AtlcUitic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus 

 (Latrobe), and the yellowfin nnenhaden, 

 B. smithi Hildebrand, are known to occur 

 along the Atlantic coast of the United 

 States. Although adults of both species 

 in a near- spawning condition occur in 

 the coastal waters, aind subsequently, 

 well- developed larvae migrate into the 

 estuaries, little is known of the time, 

 place, and extent of spawning or the 

 rate of egg and larval development in 

 the ocean. 



Nine cruises of the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries research vessel 

 Theodore N. Gill, furnished plankton col- 

 lections from Cape Hatteras to southern 

 Florida for a 2-year period, 1953-54. 

 The collections offered an opportunity 

 to learn something about the seasonal 

 distribution of menhaden eggs and 

 larvae from their occurrence in the 

 plankton. 



I wish to acknowledge the task per- 

 formed by personnel of the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries Biological Lab- 

 oratory, Brunswick, Ga. They sorted 

 and counted the fish eggs and larvae 

 and arrcinged the larvae by taxonomic 

 order or by category based upon mor- 

 phological similarities. This facilitated 

 my work assignment for which I ana 

 grateful. I also wish to acknowledge the 

 contribution of the crew of the Theodore 

 N. Gill, and the field personnel that 

 participated in the cruises. 



METHODS 



The basic station plan for all cruises 

 of the Gill is shown in figure 1. Table 1 

 lists the cruises by date with changes 

 from the basic station plan. In general, 

 stations were run in numerical order 

 from south to north. The physical 

 oceanographic, biological, eind chemi- 

 cal data have been presented in a series 

 of published reports (Anderson, Geh- 

 ringer, aind Cohen 1956a and 1956b; 

 Anderson and Gehringer 1957a, 1957b, 



