GREELEY ET AL.: STRIPED MULLET OVARY 



IS) 

 O 



Q 



O 



liJ 



UJ 



O 

 0. 



2.0 



.5- 



.0 



0.5 







500 1000 1500 



BODY WEIGHT (g) 



B 



PF = 25.84 (SD^-^^ 

 r2 = 0.83 



25 30 35 40 



STANDARD LENGTH (cm) 



Figure 8.— The relationship of the potential annual fecundity of Mugil cephalus 

 from northeast Florida to (A) body weight and (B) standard length. Lines are 

 drawn from regression equations. 



In fact, the apparent timing of the hypothetical 

 final spawning migrations from the Inlet in each of 

 the two seasons of the present study suggests there 

 might be a tidal involvement in these events: one 

 coincided with a set of new moon spring tides, and 

 the other to a set of full moon spring tides. Such 

 a tidal or lunar connection to spawning migrations 

 of striped mullet has been proposed previously 

 (Bromhall 1954), although supporting evidence is 

 still inconclusive. Others have alternatively sug- 



gested wind and currents might be contributing fac- 

 tors to the onset of spawning migrations (Apekin 

 and Vilenskaya 1979); further work is needed to 

 clarify these issues. 



Most workers agree that individual female M. 

 cephalus spawn only once a year (Zhitenev et al. 

 1974; Timoshek and Shilenkova 1975; Chubb et al. 

 1981). Our results support this assumption, as we 

 never observed more than a single clutch of devel- 

 oping oocytes proceeding through vitellogenesis dur- 



197 



