FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 1 



Table 2. — Gonad condition for male weakfish from North Carolina as a percent of the 



monthly sample. 



45% of the males were in the spent condition 

 while only 4.2% and 2.6% respectively were ripe 

 running. Male weakfish examined during No- 

 vember and December were not in the ripe run- 

 ning stage. Testes of fish collected in December 

 were developing, and the drumming muscle 

 was enlarging for the next spawning season 

 (Table 1). 



The gradual progression of ovarian maturation 

 state from mature (dominant in March) to resorb- 

 ing (dominant in December) suggests an ex- 

 tended spawning season for female weakfish. 

 Females were in the ripe or ripe running stage 

 from March through September (Table 3). From 

 April through July, over one-fourth of the females 

 were in the ripe category. Female weakfish com- 

 pleted spawning by October. Over 30% of the 

 ovaries were in the spent resorbing condition dur- 

 ing September and October. 



Evidence of multiple spawning during a given 

 season by individual fish in age-groups I and 

 older was found during analysis of ovarian condi- 

 tion. Ovaries contained mature follicles during 

 April and May with clusters of immature follicles 

 interspersed among translucent oocytes. These 

 ovaries were staged as ripe or ripe running de- 

 pending upon the extrusibility of oocytes. During 

 June, 26.6% of the ovaries were classified as ripe 



spent (Table 3). These ovaries still possessed ma- 

 ture follicles, but were flaccid relative to those of 

 April and May, showed hemorrhage, and the 

 clusters of immature follicles were maturing (en- 

 larging). Ovaries staged as ripe or ripe running in 

 July and August were rather flaccid relative to 

 ovaries collected in the spring and did not have a 

 hemorrhagic appearance. In late August and Sep- 

 tember, the ovaries possessed spent characteris- 

 tics including atresia of remaining follicles. In 

 the fall, ovaries exhibited further resorption of 

 follicles and flaccid condition. The ovaries gradu- 

 ally resumed firmness after resorption. 



The distribution of gonad index for male and 

 female weakfish of all age-classes was unimodal 

 with the greatest contribution of gonad to total 

 body weight occurring in the early summer. Tes- 

 ticular indices peaked in May at 2.6% and de- 

 clined to 0.5% in July (Figure 2). After July no 

 change in gonad index occurred until the next 

 spawning season. Ovarian indices reached 

 maximum values in May (8.3%) and declined to 

 an autumn low of less than 0.1% in September 

 (Figure 2). Both male and female indices from 

 April through June were considerably greater 

 than those of either March or July. Mean monthly 

 gonad indices reveal the major spawning period 

 to be April through June. However, some males 



Table 3. — Gonad condition of female weakfish from North Carolina as a percent of the 



monthly sample. 



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