The family Gerreidae contains four genera and 13 species that occur in the western central North Atlantic. Adult gerreids are small to medium size fishes that are abundant in coastal waters, bays, and estuaries in tropical and warm temperate regions and sometimes occur in freshwaters. They are generally associate~ with grassy or open bottoms, but not with reefs. Gerreids are silvery fishes, with deeply forked tails, and extremely protrusible mouth that points

downward when protracted. They apparently feed on bottom-dwelling organisms and at least one species (Eucinostomus gula) shows a distinct transition, during the juvenile period, from a planktivore (exclusively copepods) to a carnivore that includes a diet of almost solely

polychaetes (Carr & Adams, 1973; Robins and Ray, 1987; Murdy et al., 1997).  (PDF contains 10 pages

Greene, Michael D.

Powell, Allyn B.

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NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-434
...tlIRAII'f __
8A'bOIW. MARINE "IMUIES SEqlOl
8IAUFORT. NORTH CAIiOllNA 285US~?
PRELIMINARY GUIDE TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EARLY LIFEHISTORY STAGES OF GERREID
FISHES OF THE WESTERN CENTRAL ATLANTIC
BY
ALLYN B. POWELL AND MICHAEL D. GREENE
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Fisheries Service -
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
Beaufort Laboratory
101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, NC 28516-9722
May 2000
NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-434
PRELIMINARY GUIDE TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EARLY LlFE HISTORY STAGES OF GERREID
FISHES OF THE WESTERN CENTRAL ATLANI1C
BY
ALLYN B. POWELL AND MICHAEL D. GREENE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
William M. Daley, Secretary
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
D. James Baker, Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere
National Marine Fisheries Service
Penelope D. Dalton, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
May 2000
This Technical Memorandum series is used for documentation and timely communication ofpreliminary results,
interim reports, or similar special-purpose information. Although the memoranda are not subject to complete formal
review, editorial control, or detailed editing, they are expected to reflect sound professional work.
NOTICE
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not approve, recommend or endorse any proprietary product or
material mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS or to this publication furnished by
NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which would imply that NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses
any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned herein or which has as its purpose any intent to cause
directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because ofthis NMFS publication.
This report should be cited as follows:
Powell, A. B. and M. D. Greene. 2000. Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of
gerreid fishes of the western central Atlantic. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-434, 7 p.
W. J. Richards, Editor. NOAA Fisheries, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL
This report will be posted on the Beth~e Cookman College NOAA Cooperative web site later in 2000 at URL:
hnp://208.152.233 .21/NOAAI and will also appear on the SEFSC web site at URL: http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/
It will be a chapter entitled Gerreidae in the "Guide to the early life history stages of fishes of the western central
Atlantic".
Copies may be obtained by writing:
The authors at
NOAA Fisheries
101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, NC 28516-9722
National Teclmical Information Center
5825 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(800) 553-6847 or (703) 605-6000
<http://www.ntis.gov/numbers.htm>
ii
Gerreidae: Mojarras
A.B. Powell & M. D. Greene
The family Gerreidae contains four genera and 13 species that occur in the western
central North Atlantic. Adult gerreids are small to medium size fishes that are abundant in coastal
waters, bays, and estuaries in tropical and warm temperate regions and sometimes occur in
freshwaters. They are generally associate~ with grassy or open bottoms, but not with reefs.
Gerreids are silvery fishes, with deeply forked tails, and extremely protrusible mouth that points
downward when protracted. They apparently feed on bottom-dwelling organisms and at least one
species (Eucinostomus gula) shows a distinct transition, during the juvenile period, from a
planktivore (exclusively copepods) to a carnivore that includes a diet of almost solely
polychaetes (Carr & Adams, 1973; Robins and Ray, 1987; Murdy et al., 1997)
Gerreids eggs are small and pelagic. Gerres japonicus (from Japanese waters) eggs are
0.60-0.63 rom in diameter with a single oil globule 0.18-0.20 mm in diameter (Mito, 1963).
Larvae from this species hatches at 1.4 mm. Eggs from an Atlantic gerreid, Diapterus rhombeus
measured 0.70-0.72 rom in diameter with a single oil globule 0.18-0.20 nun in diameter (Rass,
1972). Eggs from the genera Eucinostomus and Eugerres have not been described.
Morphologically, larval gerreids are moderately deep bodied, have a pointed head in the
postlexion stage, large eyes, short coiled gut, and a space between the anus and anal fin. Just
prior to the flexion stage the prominent premaxillary process begins to form and by the early
postflexion stage is well developed and the mouth becomes protractile. Head spination is not
well developed. Small preopercular spines develop during the flexion stage, but are not
conspicuous until the postflexion stage. Small supracleithral spines might form in some species
(Leis & ReDDis, 1983). Gerreid larval pigment typically occurs on the ventral midline, tip of
notochord and eventually covers the base of the caudal fin, dorsal and anterior portions of the
gut, hindgut, ventrum of the gut, anterior to the cleithral symphysis, and dorsal midline at the
caudal peduncle that continues along the second dorsal fin ray with development (Leis & Rennis,
1983; Watson, 1996).
Gerreids can generally be distinguished from other percoid taxa by meristic characters ,
such as myomere and fin ray counts, and morphological characters such as the short preanal
length, .lack of preopercle spines prior to late flexion or early postflexion and weak spines
thereafter, and pigment characters discussed above.
Descriptions of the early stages of gerreids in the western central North Atlantic are rare
and counts ofmeristic characters are not useful to distinguish species ofEucinostomus, except E.
. .
lefroyi, which has two anal spines, nor to distinguish Gerres from Eucinostomus (Table
Gerreidae 1). Descriptions of Eucinostomus sp (P). from the California Current region (Watson,
1996) indicate a hatching size of <2.1 mm and a flexion length of approximately 4.0-5.5 mm.
Pigmentation of preflexion larvae consist of 18-20 melanophores on the ventral midline that
decrease to 12-13 at beginning of flexion; dorsally on gas bladder and hindgut, and anterior gut
pigment after 2.4 mm; one mel~ophore on the anterior and posterior of the hindgut; a pair over
midbrain after 2.4 mm. Flexion larvae have 2-4 melanophores on hypural margin; ventral
midline decreases to 6-8; posterior portion of dorsal midline at 4.6 mm; melanophore anterior to
the cleithral symphysis; paired embedded hindbrain melanophores (4.7 mm) and an additional
pair occurs on the midbrain surface (4.8 mm);O-1 melanophore at dorsal area of preopercle.
Melanophores on postflexion larvae increase over the brain, along the fin bases , and on gut and
gas bladder (Watson, 1997). A 9.5 mm SL Eucinostomus tentatively identified as E. lefroyi
appears to lack the intensity of pigment on the fin bases compared to the California
Eucinostomus. Gerres larvae from Australian waters resemble Eucinostomus except they have
less ventral midline melanophores during the preflexion stage, and head pigment does not
develop till after postflexion. (Lies & Rennis, 1983). Furthermore , larger postflexion Gerres
larvae exhibit lateral pigment in the caudal region. Australian Gerres hatch at <2.1 mm, and
caudal flexiion occurs 3.5-5.0 mm (Leis & Rennis, 1983). In the species account, the life history
and meristic data is for Eucinostomus argenteus and E. gula and 3 illustrations are provided of
examples ofEucinostomus from our area.
2
Table Gerreidae 1. Meristic characters for the gerreid species that occur in the western central
North Atlantic, All species have 10+14 vertebrae, 9+8 principal caudal fin rays, and 1,5 pelvic fin
rays. Meristic counts were obtained from Curran (1942), Dahlberg (1975), Hildago and Carri6
(1983), Deckert and Greenfield (1987) and Murdy et al. (1987). Values given are the mode and,
in parentheses, the range.
Fin rays
Species D A OR
Diapterus auratus IX,lO (VII,10-IX, I 1) III,8 (III,8-III,9) 12-13 (12-15)
D. rhombeus IX,10 'IT,9 (IT,8-IT,10) 16-18
Eucinostomus argenteus IX, 10 III,7 8
E. gula IX,lO III,7 8
E. harengulas IX,lO III,7 8
E.havana IX, 10 III,7 8
E.jonesi IX, 10 III,7 8
E.lefroyi IX,lO 11,8 8
E. melanopterus IX,lO III,7 9
Eugerres brasilianus IX,lO (IX, 10-1 I) III,7 (III,7-8) 11-12 (11-13)
E. mexicanus IX,lO (VIII-X,9-11) III,8 (III,7-8) 14-15 (13-16)
E.plumieri IX,10 (VIII-IX, 10-1 I) III,S (III,7-9) 14-16 (13-17)
Gerres cinereus IX,10 III,7 8
3
Table Gerreidae 2. Distributions of gerreid species that occur in the western central North
Atlantic. Distribution data were obtained from Robins and Ray (1986), Deckert and Greenfield
(1987), Boschung (1992) and Murdy et aI. (1997).
Species
Diapterus auratus
D. rhombeus
Eucinostomus argenteus
E. gula
E. harengulas
E. havana
E.jonesi
E.lefroyi
E. melanopterus
Eugerres brasilianus
E. mexicanus
E.plumieri
Gerres cinereus .
Distribution
Atlantic coast of US from NC south to Florida and through Gulf
of Mexico; Central America coast south to Brazil; West Indies.
West Indies; Mexico south along Central American coast;
northern South America to Brazil.
NI, Bermuda, and n. Gulf ofMexico to se. Brazil. Always in
shallow water; enters fresh water; absent from reefs.
Mass., Bermuda and n. Gulf of Mexico to Argentina. Shallow
water, except coral reefs; enters fresh water in limestone regions.
Northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico; enters fresh water;
Most common in Bahamas and West Indies; Bermuda, FL, and
Bahamas to Brazil. Inshore habitats but does not appear to enter
brackish water.
Bermuda and Florida to Brazil.
NC, Bermuda and n. Gulf ofMexico to Brazil.
Georgia to Brazil; Gulf of Mexico; West Indies; absent from
Bahamas, favors continental lagoons and bays, and enters fresh
water.
West Indies and Atlantic coast from Belize to southern Brazil;
enters rivers.
Atlantic slope of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala;
resticted to fresh waters.
Atlantic coast of US from SC to FL; west coast ofFL; West
Indies; Mexico, south along Central American coast to
Columbia, entering rivers.
Bermuda, FL and Gulf of Mexico to se. Brazil; common in
coastal waters, seagrass beds, areas near reefs and mangrove
channels.
4
Literature Cited
Boschung, H. T. 1992. Catalogue of freshwater and marine fishes of Alabama. Bull. Alabama
Mus. Nat. Hist. (14): 266 p.
Carr and Adams, 1973. Food habits of juvenile marine fishes occupying seagtass beds in the
estuarine zone near Crystal River, Florida. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 102: 511-540.
Curran, H. W. 1942. A systematic revision of the gerrid fishes referred to the genus
Eucinostomus, with a discussion of their distribution and speciation. Ph.D. Diss., Univ.
Mich., Ann Arbor. Michigan. 183 p.
Dahlberg, M. D. 1975. Guide to the coastal fishes of Georgia and nearby states. Univ. Georgia
Press, Athens, Georgia. 187 p.
Deckert, G. D.and D.W. Greenfield.1987. A review of the western Atlantic species of the genera
Diapterus and Eugerres (Pisces: Gerreidae). Copeia 1987: 182-194.
Hidalgo, M. B. and E. G. Carri6.1983. Estudio morfometrico de Eugerres brasilianus (Cuvier in
Cuvier et Valenciennes, 1830). Rev. Invest. Mar. 4: 63-90. [In Spanish].
Leis, J. M. And D.S. Rennis. 1983. The larvae of Indo-Pacific coral reef fishes. New South
Wales Univ. Press, Kensington. 269 p.
Mito, S. 1963. Pelagic fish eggs from Japanese waters--Ill. Percina. Jpn. J. Ichthol. 11: 39-64.
[In Japanese].
Murdy, E. 0., R. S. Birdsong and J. Musick. 1997. Fishes of Chesapeake Bay. Smithsonian
Press, Washington, D.C. 324 p.
Rass, T. S. 1972. Ichthyoplankton from Cuban waters. Pelagic fish eggs. Tr. Inst. Okeano!.
Akad. Nauk SSSR 93: 5-41. [In Russian].
Robins, C. R. and G. C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes ofNorth America.
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 354 p.
Watson, W. 1996. Gerreidae: mojarras. Pages 998-1001 in H. G. Moser (ed.). The early stages of
fishes in the California Current region. Calif. Coop. Ocean. Fish. Invest., Atlas No. 33.
1505 p.
5
FAMILY GERREIDAE
MERISTICS
Vertebrae:
Precaudal 10
~u~ 14
To~ 24
Number ofFin Spines and Rays:
First Dorsal IX
Second Dorsal 10
To~ 19
Anal ill, 7
Pectoral
Pelvic 1,5
Caudal
Dorsal Secondary 10
Principal 9+8
Ventral Secondary 9-10
LIFEmSTORY
Range: E. argenteus - NJ, Bermuda & n. Gulf of
Mexico to se. Brazil. E. gula - Mass,
Bermuda & n. Gulf ofMexico to Argentina
Habitat: Shallow water except reefs
ELH Pattern:
Spawning:
Season: postflexion larvae in June &
November in NC
Mode: oviparous, planktonic eggs & larvae
LITERATURE
Johnson 1984; Murdy et al.
Eucinostomus argenteuslgultl*
EARLY LIFE msTORY DESCRIPTION
EGGS: Unknown
LARVAE:
Pigmentation: Large stellate in U-shaped pattern
on mid-hind brain; embedded in hind brain;
generally 2 melanophores behind eye; over gut
& generally 1 anteriorly on gut; embedded
pair on hyoidal musculature opposite anterior
gut pigment; generally distinct embedded
pigment on gut at base of pectoral fin; 1-3 at
base of dorsal fin; mainly 2 post dorsal
midline; 3-8 at base of anal fin; 3-6 post anal
midline; hypural plate; 1-2 ventral gut; 2-3 on
isthmus.
Diagnostic Characters: Myomeres 24; short
preanal length; weak preopercle spines;
pigmentation.
*All larvae used in this description were
collected at Beaufort Inlet, NC in June and
November. The species are either E. argenteus
or E. gula.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Top: Postflexion larva 11.8 mm SL Beaufort
Inlet, NC. Either E. argenteus or E. gu/a
(original, M. D. Greene)
Middle: Postflexion larva 9.5 mm SL Gulf of
Mexico. Tentatively E. /efroyi (original, J.
Javech)
Bottom: Postflexion larva 10.9 mm SL Bahamas,
(original, W. Laroche)
GERREIDAE
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Eucinostomus spp.
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Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Gerreid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

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Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Gerreid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

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