84 
Fishery Bulletin 96(1 ), 1998 
Figure 43 
Geographic distribution of Symphurus parvus based on material examined (discus- 
sion of geographic distribution appears in species account). 
Size and sexual maturity (Fig. 
7AJ Symphurus parvus is a di- 
minutive species, attaining maxi- 
mum sizes of ca. 88 mm. Only nine 
specimens exceeded 70 mm, and 
most specimens were much smaller, 
with 81% of 101 specimens exam- 
ined for size-related life history in- 
formation ranging between 40 and 
70 mm. Males and females attain 
similar sizes; the largest specimens 
examined were males (87.3 and 84.7 
mm), whereas the largest female 
was slightly smaller (80.6 mm). 
Gaspar-Dillanes and Espinosa- 
Perez (1989:252) collected a 176-mm 
specimen (IBUNAM-P 2493) on the 
inner continental shelf off Quintana 
Roo, Mexico, which they identified 
as S. parvus. It is a specimen of S. 
diomedeanus, a species that reaches 
ca. 207 mm (see below). 
Of 101 specimens examined for 
life history information, 48 were 
males (33.5-87.3 mm), 48 females 
(21.8-80.6 mm), and 5 were imma- 
ture fish (26.6-41.5 mm) of indeter- 
minate sex. Based on reproductive 
stages of females, sexual maturity occurs at sizes of 
40-45 mm in this species. All females larger than 45 
mm, except two, were mature. Twenty-eight females 
(39.8-80.6 mm) were gravid; 13 others (42.2-71.3), 
although not gravid, were mature with fully elon- 
gate ovaries, and in some, developed ova were evi- 
dent. Seven females (21.8-47.7 mm) were immature 
with ovaries just undergoing elongation. Topp and 
Hoff (1972) also reported females of 37 and 43 mm 
with ovaries just undergoing elongation, whereas 
ovaries of a 62-mm specimen that they examined 
contained nearly mature ova. 
Geographic distribution (Fig. 43 J Neritic waters 
of the western North Atlantic from just south of Cape 
Lookout, North Carolina, south to Trinidad. Most 
frequently taken on inner continental shelf mud sub- 
strates off the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida, 
throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea 
off Central and South America to Trinidad, but ab- 
sent from the Greater and Lesser Antilles. 
Off the southeastern U.S. coast, S. parvus has been 
collected most frequently off southern Florida. Only 
three captures, consisting of one specimen apiece, 
record S. parvus north of this region. The northern- 
most record for this species is a specimen (VIMS 
8832; 87 mm) taken on the continental shelf just 
south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina (34°23'N, 
75°58'W; 80 m). One other specimen was collected 
off South Carolina (33°N), and the third specimen 
was taken at an unusually deep location (383 m) 
under the Gulf Stream off Daytona Beach, Florida 
(29°N). 
Symphurus parvus has been collected at many in- 
ner continental shelf localities throughout the Gulf 
of Mexico, including areas off west Florida, the Cen- 
tral Gulf off Alabama and Louisiana, and the west- 
ern Gulf off Texas and the Yucatan Peninsula 
(Springer and Bullis, 1956; this study). Symphurus 
parvus also occurs on the inner continental shelf 
throughout the Caribbean Sea — off Belize, Honduras, 
Panama, Colombia, eastern Venezuela, and Trinidad. 
Ginsburg (1951) speculated that S. parvus would 
eventually be found in the West Indies. A single speci- 
men (USNM 47657) containing a label reading Blake 
XXV is listed in the ledgers at USNM as probably hav- 
ing been taken from an unspecified location in the West 
Indies. Locality information for this specimen, however, 
is questionable. Eschmeyer (1965) noted many discrep- 
ancies regarding Blake station data between those re- 
ported by Goode and Bean ( 1896) and those entered in 
ledgers at the USNM fish collection. Because no addi- 
tional locality information accompanies USNM 46757 
and because station data associated with this speci- 
