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Growth and Mortality of Red Snappers in the West‐Central Atlantic Ocean and Northern Gulf of Mexico
Author(s) -
Nelson Russell S.,
Manooch Charles S.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1982)111<465:gamors>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - oceanography , gulf stream , geography , climatology , geology
Age, growth rates, mortality, and length‐weight relationships were determined for red snappers Lutjanus campechanus from two areas in the west central Atlantic Ocean and two in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Growth rates varied only slightly among areas. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was L t = 975(1 ‐ e −0.16(t‐0.0) ) for fish from the Atlantic and L t = 941(1 ‐ e − 0.17(t + 0.1) ) for fish from the Gulf of Mexico, where L t 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 × 10 −5 TL 2.953 , 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 to 0.78 for fish off the coast of Louisiana. Age of full recruitment to the fishery ranged from 2 years off Louisiana to 6 years off the Carolinas. Fishing mortality appears to be the major cause of differences in total mortality among areas.