Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of mullet (Pisces: mugilidae) from the western central Atlantic

Classification of mullet in the western-central North Atlantic remains unresolved (Rivas 1980). Thomson (1977) considered M. gaimardianus (redeye mullet) a sub-species of M. curema (white mullet), and did not recognize M. gyrans (fantail mullet) instead designating M. trichodon as the fantail mullet. Rivas (1980) separated M. gyrans from M. trichodon based primarily on soft dorsal fin counts and recognized M. gaimardianus as separate from the closely-related M. curemti [as did Menezes (1983). and Cervigon et al. (1993)] based on differences in eye color of live specimens, length of the pectoral fin, and median number of scales mid-laterally. We adopt the taxonomy of Rivas (1980).