Correlation between Temperature of Water and Size of Marine Fishes on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States

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Abstract
Delayed sexual maturity, longer life, slower growth and greater final size are characteristics of animals in colder seas, as compared to the same spp. in warmer waters. The harvest fish (Peprilus paru), the butterfish (Poronotus triacanthus) and the spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber) are commercial fish along the middle Atlantic coast, but are not utilized on the Gulf coast because of insufficient size. Several million lbs. of spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) and croaker (Micropogon undulatus) are taken on the Atlantic coast, but Gulf coast production rarely exceeds 0.5 million lbs. Although these fishes are very abundant in shallow Gulf waters, studies indicate that they spawn and die before attaining commercial size there. The center of production of the redfish (Sciaenops ocellata), a more southerly fish, is the Gulf coast where maturity is reached at a length of 16 in. or less, sexual maturity is attained at a length of 32 in. along the northern Gulf. Many fishes of the Gulf coast range to the middle Atlantic states. The same spp. have quite different fisheries and ecological significance in the different parts of their range.