Growth and Mortality of Red Snappers in the West-Central Atlantic Ocean and Northern Gulf of Mexico

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Abstract
Age, growth rates, mortality and length-weight relationships were determined for red snappers L. campechanus from 2 areas in the west central Atlantic Ocean and 2 in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Growth rates varied only slightly among areas. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was Lt = 975(1 - e-0.16(t-0.0)) for fish from the Atlantic and Lt = 941(1 - e-0.17(t+0.1)) for fish from the Gulf of Mexico, where Lt is length at age t in years. The length-weight equation differed among areas, but no difference was evident between sexes. This equation for fish from all areas pooled was W = 2.04 .times. 10-5 TL2.953, where W is weight in grams and TL is total length in mm. Significant differences were found in total instantaneous mortality rates. The rate ranged from 0.39 for fish off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina [USA] to 0.78 for fish off the coast of Louisiana. Age of full recruitment to the fishery ranged from 2 yr off Louisiana to 6 yr off the Carolinas. Fishing mortality appears to be the major cause of differences in total mortality among areas.