FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 1 



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0- 



FECUNDITY = 0.152 TL 

 0.86 



2.6418 



FECUNDITY = 0.116 SL ^ - -'']^ 

 '2 = 0.85 



T" 



T 



100 200 300 400 500 



FISH LENGTH (mm) 



600 



FIGURE 4.- 



- Relationship of weakfish fecundity to fish length 

 based upon data from 22 females. 



Schroeder (1927), Pearson (1941), and Massman 

 (1963) for Chesapeake Bay; by Parr (1933), 

 Daiber (1954), Harmic (1958), and Thomas (1971) 

 for Delaware Bay; by Nesbit (1954) and Perlmut- 

 ter et al. (1956) for New York and New Jersey 

 waters; and by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) for 

 the Gulf of Maine. However, the magnitude of 

 spawning in northern areas is unknown. Progeny 

 from spawning activity north of Chesapeake Bay 

 are considered insufficient to maintain the north- 

 ern stock (Harmic 1958), and young from the 

 Carolinas and Chesapeake Bay are thought to be 

 recruited to the northern population as age III or 

 older fish (Pearson 1941; Nesbit 1954; Perlmutter 

 et al. 1956; Harmic 1958). The validity of this 

 supposition remains to be documented. 



Mature weakfish enter the inshore waters, 

 sounds, and bays of North Carolina in early 

 spring (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1927; Hilde- 

 brand and Cable 1934; Roelofs 1951). Fertilized 

 eggs have been taken in Delaware Bay when 

 water temperatures ranged from 17° to 26.5°C 

 and at salinities from 12.1 to 31.3'L (Harmic 1958). 



Weakfish apparently have an extended spawn- 

 ing season in North Carolina waters as reported 

 by Welsh and Breder (1923), Higgins and Pearson 

 (1928), Hildebrand and Cable (1934), and Pear- 

 son (1941). Distributional data for weakfish eggs 

 and larvae are lacking in North Carolina waters. 

 Peak spawning activity occurs from late April 



through June as indicated by gonad condition and 

 gonadal index. Females appear to spawn the 

 major portion of their eggs in May or June with a 

 second spawn of smaller magnitude possibly oc- 

 curring in late July or August. Thus, weakfish of 

 a given year class may vary considerably in size 

 due to their extended spawning season and mul- 

 tiple spawning by females. 



Weakfish males and females probably attain 

 sexual maturity as 1-yr-old fish throughout 

 their geographic range, though some of the small- 

 er members of a year class may not mature until 

 their second year of life. Weakfish in North 

 Carolina waters were previously reported to 

 reach sexual maturity at age II for males and age 

 III for females (Taylor 1916; Welsh and Breder 

 1923; Higgins and Pearson 1928), and subsequent 

 papers have reiterated these ages without ver- 

 ification. Higgins and Pearson (1928) reported no 

 mature females less than 200 mm fork length 

 (approximately 170 mm SL) and that a fork length 

 of 230 mm was attained before 50% of the female 

 weakfish mature in Pamlico Sound. This size 

 group was allocated to age-group III without 

 examining scales for annuli. I consider their allo- 

 cation of age-classes to be in error on the basis of 

 data presented here and in Merriner (1973). I 

 found 21 mature female weakfish 170 mm SL in 

 samples from Pamlico Sound and 90 mature 

 female weakfish of the same size from the vicinity 

 of Morehead City. Over one-half of the female 

 weakfish were mature at 190 mm SL in samples 

 from Pamlico Sound, and male weakfish become 

 sexually mature at a smaller size than females. 

 Weakfish spawned in May or June would be ma- 

 ture the following May or June. Those fish 

 spawned in late July or August probably would 

 not be sexually mature until late summer of the 

 year following their hatch or the following spring. 

 Scrap samples from pound nets in Chesapeake 

 Bay contained mature female weakfish measur- 

 ing 170 to 250 mm TL during late spring and 

 summer months (McHugh 1960). Maturation at a 

 small size is also likely for fish from more north- 

 erly areas (Daiber 1954; Thomas 1971). 



No evidence of alternate year spawning was 

 found even in the oldest specimens examined. All 

 of the females of age III or older were either in 

 spawning condition or mature during early sum- 

 mer. However, some of the older weakfish in the 

 population may not migrate inshore during 

 spring and summer. 



Weakfish are characterized by high fecundity. 



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