424 



Abstract— The tautog, Tautoga onitis 

 (Linnaeus), ranges from Nova Scotia 

 to South Carolina and has become a 

 popular target for recreational and com- 

 mercial fisheries. Although tautog are a 

 multiple spawning species, reproductive 

 potential, measured as annual fecun- 

 dity, has not been estimated previously 

 with methods (batch fecundity, spawn- 

 ing frequency) necessary for a species 

 with indeterminate annual fecundity. 

 A total of 960 tautog were collected from 

 the mouth of the Rappahannock River 

 in the lower Chesapeake Bay to 45 km 

 offshore of Virginia's coastline to inves- 

 tigate tautog reproductive biology in the 

 southern portion of the species range. 

 Tautog did not exhibit a 1:1 sex ratio; 

 56'7f were females. Male tautog reached 

 50^1 maturity at 218 mm TL, females 

 at 224 mm TL. Tautog spawned from 7 

 April 1995 to 15 June 1995. at locations 

 from the York River to 45 km offshore. 

 Batch fecundity estimates ranged from 

 2800 to 181,200 eggs per spawning for 

 female tautog age 3-9, total length 259- 

 516 mm. Mean batch fecundity ±SEM 

 for female tautog ages 4-6 was 54,243 

 ±2472 eggs and 106,256 ±3837 eggs for 

 females ages 7-9. Spawning frequency 

 was estimated at 1.2 days, resulting in 

 58 spawning days per female in 1995. 

 Estimates of potential annual fecun- 

 dity for tautog ages 3-9 ranged from 

 160,000 to 10,510,000 eggs. 



Reproductive seasonality, fecundity, 

 and spawning frequency of tautog 

 {Tautoga onitis) in the lower Chesapeake Bay 

 and coastal waters of Virginia* 



Geoffrey G. White 



School of Marine Science 



Virginia Institute ol Manne Science 



College of William and fVlary 



PO. Box 1346 



Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 



Present address: Atlantic States Marine Fistienes Commission 



1444 Eye Street, NW, 6"^ Floor 



Washiington, DC. 20005 

 E-mail address: gwhiteigasmfc org 



Thomas A. Munroe 



National Marine Fisheries Service 



National Systematics Laboratory. NMFS/NOAA 



Smithsonian Institution 



Post Office Box 37012 



NHB, WC 57, MRC-153 



Washington, DC 20013-7012 



Herbert M. Austin 



School of Manne Science 

 Virginia Institute of Manne Science 

 College of William and Mary 

 PO Box 1346 

 Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 



Manuscript accepted 22 October 2002. 



Manuscript received 31 December at 

 NMFS Scientific Publications Office. 



Fish. Bull.:424-424 (2003). 



The tautog, Tautoga onitis (Linnaeus), 

 ranges from Nova Scotia (Bleakney, 

 1963; Scott and Scott, 1988) to South 

 Carolina (Sedberry and Beatty, 1989; 

 BeardenM, although it is most abun- 

 dant between Cape Cod and New 

 Jersey (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953). 

 In Virginia, tautog occur within the 

 Chesapeake Bay from Gwynn's Island 

 (mouth of Rappahannock River) and 

 Sandy Point (Eastern Shore) southward 

 to the mouth of the bay (Hildebrand 

 and Schroeder, 1928), and in coastal 

 Atlantic waters out to 65 km offshore 

 (Richards and Castagna, 1970; Musick, 

 1972; Hostetter and Munroe, 1993). The 

 major habitat requirement for this spe- 

 cies is hard-bottom structure that fish 

 can remain under, within, or alongside 

 (011a et al., 1974). Adult tautog inhabit 

 hard-bottom environments including 

 natural reefs and rock outcroppings, 



as well as man-made structures such 

 as jetties, bridge-tunnel networks, arti- 

 ficial reefs, and shipwrecks. Near the 

 southern terminus of the species range 

 suitable hard-bottom habitat to support 

 tautog populations becomes less abun- 

 dant and may limit population size 

 (Eklund and Targett, 1990; Hostetter 

 and Munroe, 1993). 



Tautog are a long-lived, slow-growing 

 species with a maximum recorded age of 

 34 years in Rhode Island (Cooper, 1967) 



Contribution 2505 of the Virginia Institute 

 of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA 

 23062. 



Bearden, C. M. 1961. Common marine 

 fishes of South Carolina. Bears Bluff 

 Lab. Conlr, vol 34, 47 p. IDeposited at 

 South Carolina Department of Natural 

 Resources, Marine Resources Library, 

 217 Fort Johnson Road, PO. Box 12559, 

 Charleston, SC 29422.1 



