FABLE ET AL,: AGE AND GROWTH OF MACKEREL 



lengths (Lx) are larger (especially for males) than 

 those derived by Powell (1975) and Nomura 

 (1967) (Table 9). Nomura used Klima's (1959) 

 data to compute growth curves for Florida fish. 

 Our Lx estimates are much closer to the maxi- 

 mum observed lengths in our samples (802 mm 

 FL female and 723 mm FL male) than were the 

 estimates from other authors. The differences be- 

 tween our estimates and Powell's (1975) are eas- 

 ily explained because we included the oldest fish 

 in our back-calculations, whereas Powell only in- 

 cluded fish up to 5 years old, forcing his growth 

 coefficient (k ) to be higher. Therefore, we believe 

 our growth parameters are a more accurate re- 

 flection of population growth and more appropri- 

 ate to use in assessment of the status of the stock. 



EVERHART. W. H., A. W. ElPPER, AND W. D. YOUNGS. 



1975. Principles of fishery science. Cornell Univ. Press, 

 Ithaca, N.Y., 288 p. 

 Johnson, A. G,, W. A. Fable, Jr.. M. L. Williams, and L. E. 

 Barger 



1983. Age, growth and mortality of king mackerel, 

 Scomberomorus cavalla, from the southeastern United 

 States. Fish. Bull., U.S. 81:97-106. 

 Klima, E F 



1959. Aspects of the biology and the fishery for Spanish 

 mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus (Mitchill), of south- 

 em Florida. Fla. Board Conserv. Mar. Res. Lab. Tech. 

 Ser. No. 27, 30 p. 

 Mendoza, a. 



1968. Aspects of the biology and the fishery of the Spanish 

 mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus (Mitchill), in the 

 state of Veracruz. Bios 1(2), 22 p. 

 Nomura, H. 



1967. Dados biologicos sombre a serra, Scomberomorus 



Table 9. — Von Bertalanffy growth parameters for Spanish mackerel. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We thank Richard Condrey, Churchill Grimes, 

 and Edward Houde for their constructive reviews 

 of this manuscript. Appreciation is also extended 

 to Gerald Scott for his assistance in the statistical 

 analyses. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Abramson, N J 



1971. Computer programs for fish stock assessment. 

 FAO Fish. Tech. Pap. 101. Rome, Italy. 

 BEA.MISH, R J., and D a. FOURNIER 



1981. A method for comparing the precision of a set of age 

 determinations. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:982-983. 

 Bea.mish. R J.. AND G A. McFarlane. 



1983. The forgotten requirement for age validation in 

 fisheries biology. Trans. Am. Fish. See. 112:735-743. 

 Carlander, K. D. 



1981. Caution on the use of the regression method of 

 back-calculating lengths from scale measurements. 

 Fisheries 6(l):2-4. 

 Collette, B. B , J. L. Russo, and L, A. Zavala-Camin. 



1978. Scomberomorus brasiliensis , a new species of 

 Spanish mackerel from the western Atlantic. Fish. 

 Bull., U.S. 76:273-280. 



maculatus (Mitchill), das aguas cearenses. Arq. Estac. 

 Biol. Mar. Univ. Fed. Ceara 7(l):29-39. 

 Powell, D 



1975. Age, growth, and reproduction in Florida stocks of 

 Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus. FDNR, 

 Fla. Mar. Res. Publ. No. 5, 21 p. 

 RiCKER, W E. 



1975. Computation and interpretation of biological statis- 

 tics offish populations. Fish. Res. Board Can. Bull. 191, 

 382 p. 

 Tesch. R. W. 



1971. Age and growth. /« W. E. Ricker (editor). Methods 

 of assessment of fish production in fi-esh waters, p. 98- 

 130. Blackwell Scientific Publ., Oxf 

 Trent, L., and E. A. Anthony 



1978. Commercial and recreational fisheries for Spanish 

 mackerel, Scom.beromorus maculatus. In E. L. Naka- 

 mura and H. R. Bullis, Jr. (editors). Proceedings of the 

 Mackerel Colloquium, p. 17-32. Gulf States Mar. Fish. 

 Comm. No. 4. 

 U.S. DEP-iVRTMENT OF COMMERCE. 



1986a. Fisheries of the United States, 1985. U.S. Dep. 

 Commer., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., Curr. Fish. Stat. 8380, 

 121 p. 



1986b. Marine recreational fishery statistics survey, At- 

 lantic and Gulf coasts, 1985. U.S. Dep. Commer., Natl. 

 Mar. Fish. Serv., Curr. Fish. Stat. 8327, 130 p. 

 VoN Bertalanffy L. 



1938. A quantitative theory of organic growth (inquiries 

 on growth laws. 11). Hum. Biol. 19(2):181-213. 



783 



