Flyingfish spawning (Parexocoetus brachypterus)
in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Philip Wesley Stevens^1,2, Cifford Kip Bennett¹
& James Joseph Berg<sup>1,3

1</sup>Florida Integrated Science Center, U. S. Geological Survey,
7920 NW 71 Street, Gainesville, FL 32653
²Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida,
P.O. Box 116450, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450
³Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida,
7922 NW 71 Street, Gainesville, FL 32653

    
       A spawning aggregation of Paraexocoetus brachypterus was observed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico over the outer continental shelf, 100 km south of Mobile, Alabama. The spawn occurred during 9 May 2001 just after moonrise two days post full moon. The weather conditions during the spawn were calm, surface current was moving easterly along the outer continental shelf, and a pycnocline was present at a depth of 10 – 15 m.  The numerical density of spawning flyingfish at the surface, determined from video analysis, was 25 ± 2 fish m^-2.  More than one million flyingfish were estimated to have participated in the spawn. Male and female flyingfish collected by dip net were running ripe. Male flyingfish were three times more abundant than females, which would be consistent with observations of three to four flyingfish grouped together before and after the spawning aggregation, if several males were simultaneously pursuring a single female.  Although egg attachment to flotsam is the only reproductive mode that has been described for flyingfishes with demersal eggs, the P. brachypterus spawn occurred in the absence of flotsam.  Other possible egg development modes include egg suspension upon current, mid-water suspension above pycnocline or upon topographically induced turbulence, or benthic.


   Video:  Flyingfish