510 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
SPAWNING 
A fairly full report on the spawning season of the Spanish mackerel, S. maculatus, 
was given by R. Edward Earll (1882, pp. 395-426). This writer made a special 
investigation and stated (p. 404) that this fish begins to spawn in the Carolinas in 
April, in Chesapeake Bay in June, and in the vicinity of Long Island not until the last 
of August. Mr. Earll stated, furthermore (p. 405): 
* * * The spawning season on our coast continues throughout the summer, and, in an}' 
particular locality, it lasts from 6 to upward of 10 weeks. * * * Again, a single individual is a 
number of weeks depositing its eggs, as shown by the fact that when the first are excluded a large 
percentage are still small and immature. 
It seems to us from the evidence obtained during the investigation upon which 
this report is based that Mr. Earll set the beginning of the spawning season (“in 
April”) too early for North Carolina. It has been stated already (p. 509) that the 
Spanish mackerel arriving off Beaufort in April and May contain green roe. Further- 
more, no larvae were collected there prior to June 28 (1927). 
Other young of sizes stated were taken in the vicinity of Beaufort as follows: 
Larvae 4.0 mm and less in length, June 28 (1927), August 17 (1927), and August 26 
(1929); larger larvae up to 8.0 mm in length, July 12 (1915), and September 1 and 2 
(1914) ; young 14 to 20 mm long, July 7 (1913), July 9 (1915), 2 and September 2 (1914) ; 
and specimens up to 80 mm long, August 15 (1913), and October 7 (1930). 
The larger young, that is, fish 14 mm and upward in length are capable of swim- 
ming and may have traveled some distance from the spawning ground. In fact, some 
of these larger young were taken in inside waters, whereas the smaller ones were caught 
only in outside waters. Larvae 8 mm and less in length, as already shown, have no 
fins and are quite helpless. Except as wafted about by currents and tides, they no 
doubt remain where they were hatched. 
It may be concluded, then, that a limited amount of spawning (for the young, as 
stated elsewhere, are not numerous) takes place in the open waters off Beaufort 
Inlet, and apparently none in the inside waters. Furthermore, larvae under 8.0 mm 
in length quite certainly are only several days old. As these small larvae appeared in 
the collection from June 28 (1927) to September 2 (1914), it may be concluded also 
that spawning takes place off Beaufort at least from the latter part of June to near the 
end of August. It cannot be stated definitely that the earliest larvae of any one 
season were taken, yet the absence of young in our collections prior to the end of June 
does in a measure confirm the statement of local fishermen and fish dealers, as well as 
our observations, that the fish of the spring run (April and May) at Beaufort are not 
ripe, and that spawning very probably does not take place in the vicinity of Beaufort 
until sometime in June. 
So far as we are aware nothing is known definitely about the spawning habits of 
S. cavalla and S. regalis. The limited number of fish examined, taken in the fall of 
the year, contained no roe. No evidence indicating that they spawn on the coast 
of North Carolina has been found. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE YOUNG 
It cannot be stated positively that the young fish herein described are all Spanish 
mackerel, for even the adults of the species of Scomberomorus are rather closely 
> Some of the small specimens used in the preparation of this report were collected as early as 1913 to 1915 by Dr. Lewis Radciiffe, 
formerly of the Bureau of Fisheries, who already had identified some of them provisionally when they fell into our hands. Therefore, 
we wish to credit Dr. Radciiffe with laying the foundation that made this report on Scomberomorus possible. 
