Larval Swordfish (<i>Xiphias gladius</i>) from Three Localities in the Western Atlantic

Abstract

In February 1965, 47 larval swordfish were caught in three regions of the western North Atlantic: near Cape Hatteras, N.C.; off the east coast of Florida; and near the Virgin Islands. The captures were made in waters where the ranges of both temperature (23.4–25.6 C) and salinity (35.81–36.36‰) were small. The data support the conclusions of other workers that swordfish spawn in an area west of the Straits of Florida and in the most southern part of the Sargasso Sea.