156 



Fishery Bulletin 93(1). 1995 



This may be explained by the higher value of the 

 exponent (6) of the length-weight relationship cal- 

 culated for captive dolphin in this study (3.07) com- 

 pared with wild fish from North Carolina and Florida, 

 2.58 < b < 2.75 (Rose and Hassler, 1968). Oxenford 

 and Hunte (1986) reported b values of 2.94 for male 

 and 2.84 for female dolphin from Barbados. These 

 differences indicate that dolphin tend to have shorter, 

 deeper bodies in captivity than in the wild. Blaxter 

 (1988) found that fish reared in captivity tend to be 

 shorter and fatter and have a higher condition fac- 

 tor than fish from the wild, possibly because fish are 

 likely to swim less when confined, diminishing the 

 effect of exercise on growth (Jobling 1990; Christ- 

 iansen and Jobling, 1990; Benetti, 1992; Christiansen 

 et al., 1992; Boisclair and Tang, 1993). This is con- 

 sistent with the predictions of the VBGM's in this 

 study, which indicate that it would take longer for 

 dolphin to reach asymptotic length and weight in 

 captivity (6 years) than in their natural environment 

 (4 years or less). 



Results presented in this study suggest that cap- 

 tive dolphin grow slower and are less streamlined 

 than in the wild. However, morphological and growth 

 disparities of wild dolphin have been attributed to 

 genetic (Oxenford and Hunte, 1986) and environmen- 

 tal (Rose and Hassler, 1968) differences in unit 

 stocks. The larval development of dolphin from the 

 Gulf of Mexico and from the western Pacific Ocean 

 is similar, but both differ from that off Japan (Ditty 

 et al., 1994). Although Benetti (1992) reported no sig- 

 nificant differences between growth rates and devel- 

 opment of dolphin larvae in Hawaii from F x and F 7 

 generations inbred in captivity, nothing is known 

 about differences in growth during the juvenile and 

 adult stages among offspring from brood fish from 

 other stocks. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank Peter Lutz (Florida Atlantic University), 

 Larry Brand (RSMAS, University of Miami), Eirik 

 O. Duerr (The Oceanic Institute), Eric Prince and 

 Victor Restrepo (Southeast Fisheries Science Cen- 

 ter, NMFS, Miami Laboratory), and Syd Kraul 

 (Waikiki Aquarium) for reviewing an early manu- 

 script. The authors also thank two anonymous re- 

 viewers and the Scientific Editor, Ronald Hardy, for 

 comments which greatly improved the original manu- 

 script. We also thank Arietta Venizelos for editorial 

 help, and Thomas Capo for use of laboratory facili- 

 ties (Experimental Hatchery, University of Miami). 

 This work was part of the senior author's Ph.D. dis- 

 sertation, funded by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional 



de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq). 

 Partial funding was also provided by U.S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture, ARS, grant 59-91H2-9-218 to the Oce- 

 anic Institute in Hawaii. 



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