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Fishery Bulletin 101(2) 



Figure 2, A-D. 



Histologic stages of tautog ovaries. (A) immature (stage 1). (B) developing (stage 2). (C) fully 

 developed (stage 3). (Dl hydrated (stage 4). PG = primary growth oocyte. CA = cortical alveoli 

 oocyte. PY = partially yolked oocyte. AY = advanced yolked oocyte. HO = hydrated oocytes. 

 Magnification = 50x. 



drated and running ripe fish because those stages have 

 high abundances of hydrated oocytes and fresh POFs, 

 which indicate cither imminent or recent spawning activ- 

 ity (Hunter and Macewicz, 1985). 



Oocyte development patterns (synchronous, group syn- 

 chronous, or asynchronous) and type of annual fecundity 

 (indeterminate or determinate) were assessed by oocyte 

 size-frequency distributions (Hunter and Macewicz, 1985) 

 and histology (Hunter and Macewicz, 1985; West, 1990). 



Six fish were selected for analysis of oocyte size-frequency 

 distributions; three fish (TL=300, 400, 450 mm [±10 mm)) 

 in April and another throe in June, representing gonad de- 

 velopment early and late in the spawning season. For each 

 fish, oocytes were hydraulically separated from the ovar- 

 ian membrane and each other, collected in a 0.1-mm sieve, 

 and preserved in 2% formalin following the method of Low- 

 erre-Barbieri and Barbieri ( 1993). Preserved samples were 

 stirred to reduce bias due to differential settling of different 



