Munroe and Ross: Distribution and life history of Cithanchthys gymnorhinus and C. cornutus 
331 
A Cithanchthys cornutus 
B Cithanchthys gymnorhinus 
Depth 
Figure 4 
Mean depth of capture (at 10-m intervals) for two species of Citharichthys captured 
off the east coast of the United States and nearby regions. (A) Citharichthys cornutus 
(n = 578). (B) Citharichthys gymnorhinus (n = 214). 
the specimens measured 60 mm or larger; but only 27 
(4.7%) exceeded 70 mm. Males (259 of 430, ca. 60% of 
total fish for which sex was determined) ranged in size 
from 20.2 to 79.1 mm (Fig. 6A). Females (171 of 430 = ca. 
40% of total fish for which sex was determined) attained 
similar sizes (28.0-81.3 mm) to those recorded for males 
(Fig. 6B). Despite attaining nearly the same maximum 
size, males overall were usually larger than females and 
slightly more than twice as many males (169 or 39.3% 
of 430 fish for which sex was determined) reached 60 
mm or larger than did females (48 or 11% of total fish 
for which sex was determined). 
Size distributions in our samples are similar to those 
recorded for the species in other studies, but are slightly 
smaller than the maximum size (about 91 mm SL) re- 
ported for the species (Longley and Hildebrand, 1941; 
Gutherz, 1967; Cervigon, 1996). From a size range of 
32-68 mm SL (n- 68), Parr (1931) concluded that C. 
cornutus is a small species reaching only about 70 mm 
SL. But, as noted above, his results were likely based 
on a mixture of both C. cornutus and C. gymnorhinus. 
Norman (1934) reported sizes of 47-87 mm SL for six 
males, and 58 mm SL for one female. For C. cornutus 
collected off the Dry Tortugas, the largest size obtained 
by Longley and Hildebrand (1941) was slightly larger 
than 90 mm (TL?). Gutherz (1967) illustrated a male 
measuring 89 mm SL, but later (Gutherz, 1969), re- 
ported a maximum length for C. cornutus of only about 
75 mm SL. Staiger (1970:64) examined 85 males and 
35 females from the Straits of Florida that ranged in 
size between 26 and 70 mm SL. Topp and Hoff (1972) 
measured 38 specimens between 47.5 and 74.1 mm SL. 
Cervigon (1996) listed a maximum size of 91 mm SL for 
the species. Saavedra-Diaz et al. (2000) reported sizes 
for seven specimens taken off Colombia ranging from 
46.7 to 61.8 mm SL. In other studies (Robins and Ray, 
1986; Munroe, 2003; McEachran and Fechhelm, 2005), 
a maximum size of 100 mm TL was recorded (apparent- 
ly rounded upward on the basis of other literature). 
Size at maturity 
Sex was determined for 430 of the 566 (ca. 76%) indi- 
viduals measured. Among males (Fig. 6A), 32 of 259 
(about 12%), ranging from 20.0 to 71.4 mm, are imma- 
ture; whereas, 227 (87%), measuring 36.5-79.1 mm, are 
mature. All nine males < 35.0 mm are immature, and 
3 of 4 males between 35 and 40 mm are also immature. 
