WILLIAMS and CLARKE: BIOLOGY OF THE GOLD SPOT HERRING 



Sex ratio of juveniles 50-80 mm SL did not deviate 

 from 1:1, but there were deviations from 1:1 among 

 larger fish depending upon time of collection. Of 348 

 adults from open-water night collections, the propor- 

 tionofmales in the total, 86.9% (95% limits: 82-91%), 

 and in all size groups from 85 to 1 10 mm SL (Fig. 1) 

 differed significantly from that expected for a 1: 1 sex 

 ratio. Males made up only 42.6% (95% limits: 37- 

 49%) of the 392 adults from shallow-water day collec- 

 tions; females predominated in all size classes but 

 one and significantly so in two (Fig. 1). The pattern in 

 all large samples was consistent with the trend of the 

 total collection, except for some day samples where 

 the sex ratio was not different from 1:1. For example, 

 a beach seine collection on a reef top in Kaneohe Bay 

 at 1400 h in June 1977 yielded 56 males and 86 

 females, while a purse seine collection taken at 2000 

 h on the same date and 1 km away yielded 94 males 

 and 25 females. For both the pooled collections and 

 the above pair of samples alone, there were signifi- 

 cant day-night differences in size composition of 

 either sex considered separately or of the total fish 

 collected, but there were no differences between 

 males and females taken at the same time of day 

 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, P < or > 0.05, respec- 

 tively). Among all the specimens examined, several 

 females were larger (up to 128 mm) than the largest 

 male (118 mm). 



2,30 10,45 16,57 64,53 135,71 



75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100-104 105-109 110-114 115-119 120-124 

 STANDARD LENGTH (mm) 



FIGURE 1. — Percentages of males among different size groups of 

 Herklotsichthys quadrimaeulatus for night (solid circles and lines) 

 and day (open circles, dashed lines) collections, Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. 

 Vertical lines indicate 95 % confidence limits for observed propor- 

 tions; for seven points represented by 10 or fewer fish, the limits, 

 which included 50% (light horizontal line) were omitted for clarity. 

 Pairs of numbers at the top represent numbers of fish of each size 

 group examined; night collections on the left, day on the right. 



Reproduction 



The G/S ratios (Fig. 2) indicated that both sexes 

 begin to mature at about 75-80 mm SL, and both the 

 G/S and maximum ova diameters indicated that 

 females continue to grow while ova are maturing. 



Although G/S values of 80-90 mm SL fish were 

 higher than those of juveniles, values >2.5% in males 

 and >7% in females were found only in fish >90 mm 

 SL. With one exception, the largest ova from females 

 <90 mm SL were <0.6 mm in diameter, while values 

 for larger females ranged up to 0.9 mm. There was no 

 trend in G/S or maximum ova diameter with female 

 length for fish > 90 mm SL; even during the spawning 

 season (see below and Figure 3), the G/S ratios of 

 some large females were almost as low as those of 

 juveniles or presumably reproductively inactive 

 females from winter. G/S of females was generally 

 positively correlated with diameter of the largest ova 

 (Fig. 2), but the relationship was highly variable. Fish 

 carrying large numbers of small ova often had the 

 same G/S as others carrying smaller numbers of 

 larger ova. 



Seasonal differences in G/S ratios of both males 

 and females (Fig. 3) indicated that the principal 

 spawning season is May-July and that at least some 

 fish are fully mature or nearly so between March and 

 October. Ova with yolk were not found in several of 

 the females from August to October and in none of 

 the 13 from November and December; yolked ova 

 were present in all females examined from March 

 through July. The few or no data from November to 

 February do not preclude some spawning during the 

 entire year, and, in fact, recently transformed 

 juveniles about 1-mo-old (see below) were observed 



CD 



O 



o 



50 



60 



70 80 90 100 110 120 



STANDARD LENGTH (mm) 



130 



FIGURE 2. — Relationship between gonad/somatic weight and size of 

 male and female Herklotsichthys quadrimaeulatus collected in 

 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. 



591 



