Marine - Species

Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber)

General Description
Silver-gray to yellowish; disc shaped, nearly as deep as long; sides with 4 – 6 black vertical bars that may fade with age. First rays of anal and second dorsal fins elongate, forming a point. First dorsal fin spiny. Mouth small.

Average Size
12 - 18 inches, 6 pounds;
South Carolina State Record: 14 pounds, 2 ounces (2005);
maximum age: at least 8 years

Habitat

Adults: Inhabit nearshore and offshore waters, typically over rocky or live bottom habitat and in association with wrecks, artificial reefs, and piers.

Juveniles:Tolerate wide salinity ranges; utilize estuaries, harbors, rivers, and tidal creeks, often in association with hard bottom, or sub tidal oyster reefs.

Reproductive Cycle

• Both sexes mature by 1 year of age. Approx. size at maturity: males – 3 ¾ inches, females – 4 ¾ inches.
• Spawning occurs at the surface in offshore waters during May – September (peak May-June).
• Larvae inhabit warm, higher salinity nearshore coastal surface waters. Juveniles often utilize estuaries as nursery grounds.

Foraging Habits

• Generalist feeders during daylight on a wide variety of invertebrate prey. Foraging occurs throughout the water column, along bottom, and on, around, or within manmade structure.
• Prey includes sponges, polychaete and sabellid worms, tunicates, hydrozoans, soft corals, amphipods, anemones, algae, and crustacean larvae.

Availability/Vulnerability to Harvest

• Distribution is primarily temperature dependent. Present in nearshore waters April – November. Juveniles leave estuaries during fall and join adults in shallow offshore waters; younger fish may remain near offshore artificial reefs almost year-round. Older fish probably overwinter in deep water offshore; some may also move southward as nearshore waters cool during fall.
• Form schools of a few to several hundred fish. Strong schooling behavior in vicinity of manmade structure could increase vulnerability to fishing pressure.
• No commercial fishery exists in South Carolina.
• Conservation concerns: degradation or loss of nearshore larval habitat and estuarine nursery grounds; degradation or loss of limited nearshore live and hard bottom habitats; potential for overfishing; lack of knowledge regarding basic biology of spadefish in South Carolina waters.

Literature Cited