Population Parameters of a Relatively Unexploited Stock of Snowy Grouper in the Lower Florida Keys
- 1 May 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 113 (3) , 322-329
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1984)113<322:ppoaru>2.0.co;2
Abstract
Age, growth, mortality, and reproduction of a relatively unexploited stock of snowy grouper Epinephelus niveatus from the lower Florida Keys, were studied during April 1978‐July 1981. Biological statistics were derived from 309 snowy grouper. Ages, determined by otolith sectioning, ranged from 0 to XXVII. Back‐calculated mean total lengths (TL) ranged from 209 mm at the end of year 1 to 909 mm at the end of year 15. The von Bertalanffy growth equation for snowy grouper was Lt = 1,320{1 ‐ exp[‐0.087(t + 1.013)]}, where L = total length (mm), and t = age (years). Annual mortality, determined by catch‐curve analysis, was 16%. Full recruitment into the fishery occurred at 575–600 mm TL and at age VIII. The snowy grouper exhibited protogynous hermaphroditism. Most females (81%) were sexually mature by age IV to V. Males did not appear until age VI, but they comprised 40% of all fish of ages VIII or older. These biological findings preliminarily suggest that snowy grouper stocks in the Florida Keys cannot support an extensive and sustained commercial fishery. Received November 29, 1982 Accepted March 22, 1984This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Aspects of the biology and ecology of Caribbean reef fishes: Serranidae (hinds and groupers)Journal of Fish Biology, 1978