Kinds and Abundances of Fish Larvae in the Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Areas

Fish larvae were studied from collections made in the western central Atlantic, principally the Caribbean Sea. Larvae were collected with bongo and neuston nets during two cruises of the FRV Oregon II in the summer of 1972 and winter of 1973. Eighty-eight families were represented in the bongo collections, and 58 families were represented in the neuston collections, for a total of 97 families represented overall. In the bongo tows, myctophid larvae were the most abundant and were represented in every collection. Gonostomatid larvae ranked second in abundance and occurred in all but two collections. Other abundant larvae were bolhids, scarids, bregmacerolids, paralepidids, gobiids, scombrids, labrids, carangids, and serranids. The top 15 families accounted for 69-74% of the total larvae for both cruises. On the summer cruise, five stations had >1,000 larvae under 10 m2 of sea surface, with two of these near the Virgin Islands, one east of the Antilles, one south of Hispaniola, and one between Cuba and the Bahama Islands. On the winter cruise, two stations had 1,000 larvae under 10 m2 of sea surface, and these were off the northern coast of Venezueia in an area of upwelling. This area is especially abundant in reef fishes with mid-depth fishes also common. Large concentrations of clupeids are not seen here, since Ihey are in the Gulf of Mexico for lack of a large shelf area. Oceanic pelagic fishes, such as the scombrids, were only moderately abundant here compared with the eastern Atlantic. Since there is no major nutrient transport to most of the area, great abundances of fish are precluded. For the most part, Ihe area is uniform in distribution and abundance of larvae, the exception being the northern coast of South America, an area of upwelling.