FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 4 



revealed females to be more abundant in the catch 

 than males (Table 2). The sex ratio was not 1:1 

 males to females as hypothesized but actually 1:2.1 

 when the years were combined. Data for each year 

 analyzed separately also provided significant 

 deviations from expected. The sex ratio for each 

 year was 1:2.1, 1:1.9, and 1:3.3 for 1972, 1973, and 

 1974, respectively (Table 2). The overall, higher 

 deviation from 1:1 for 1974 is because most of the 

 fish were collected in late winter and spring of 

 that year, months which reflected the greatest 

 deviation from 1:1. Of all months examined, only 

 August, September, and November were 

 nonsignificant, revealing equal number of males 

 and females. The ratio for October could not be 

 tested because of insufl^cient data. During the 

 spawning season, chi-square values were very high 

 and perhaps reflect monosexual schooling. 



Sex ratios for males and females grouped into 

 50-mm length intervals had significant departures 

 from the expected 1:1 ratio for most size categories 

 (Table 3). In general, females predominated in the 

 smaller size classes, whereas males predominated 

 in the larger size classes. The nonsignificant value 

 for the smallest size interval is probably unrealis- 

 tic since the sample is very small and the sequen- 

 tial intervals are highly significant in favor of 

 females. 



Both protandrous and protogynous hermaph- 

 roditism are relatively common among the sparids 

 (D'Ancona 1950, 1956). Pagrtis pagrus collected 

 from the west coast of Florida appear to display 

 protogynous hermaphroditism although data 



Table 2.-Number of male and female red porgy collected by 

 month during 1972, 1973, and 1974 with chi-square values 

 obtained from testing a 1:1 sex ratio in each month (a), and each 

 year (b). 



Table 3.— Number of male and female red porgy grouped into 

 50-mm size categories with chi-square values assuming a 1:1 sex 

 ratio. 



* = P<0.05. 

 ** = P<0.01. 



available are insuflficient for quantitative descrip- 

 tion (D. S. Beaumariage pers. commun.). 



The predominance of females at smaller size 

 intervals in this study and discovery of individuals 

 with both ovarian and testicular tissue supports 

 the theory of protogyny. Although hermaphroditic 

 red porgy were found by macroscopic examina- 

 tion, only 16 specimens of the 752 examined (2%) 

 contained both male and female gonadal tissues. 

 Hermaphroditic red porgy ranged in size from 325 

 mm to 424 mm TL (x = 400 mm); possibly the 

 length range over which sexual transition takes 

 place. In each fish the ovaries were dominant with 

 only redundant testicular tissue present. From 

 preliminary studies with red porgy in the Gulf, M. 

 A. Moe (pers. commun.) reported that the male 

 portion of the gonad develops in the muscular 

 tunica of the gonad wall and eventually completely 

 takes over the gonad. 



Spawning 



Ripe red porgy were collected over irregular 

 bottom from January through April in water 

 depth ranging from 21 to 100 m and bottom 

 temperatures of 16.4° to 21.5°C (Figure 4). Pagrus 

 pagrus spawns from December through January 

 in the Argentine Sea when water temperature is 

 approximately 20° to 21°C (Ciechomski and Weiss 

 1973). 



The relationship of the gonad index to photo- 

 period and bottom temperature were plotted 

 monthly (Figure 4). By inspecting this figure one 

 could conclude that photoperiod is more directly 

 correlated to gonad maturation and spawning. 

 Similarly, gonad maturation of red grouper, 

 Epinephelus mono, another demersal reef species, 

 was unrelated to bottom temperature (Moe 1969). 

 Harrington (1956) demonstrated the importance 

 of photoperiod to gonad maturation and spawning 



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