GREELEY ET AL.: STRIPED MULLET OVARY 



ual maturity in northeast Florida at a smaller size, 

 and probably at an earlier age, than anywhere else 

 in the world. However, caution must be taken in 

 making such comparisons. Our results demonstrate 

 that smaller fish typically lag behind larger fish in 

 reaching a sexually developed state by as much as 

 2 months on a seasonal basis. In consequence, the 

 determinations of size or age at maturity by other 

 investigators, if based on only a limited number of 

 samples or on samples obtained at only a limited 

 number of dates within the prespawning period of 

 ovarian recrudescence, might not be truly compar- 

 able to our results. 



The annual fecundity of M. cephalus has been 

 reported to be from 1.2 x 10^ to 2.8 x 10^ by most 

 authors (Thomson 1966), although estimates ranged 

 from as low as 0.5 x 10^ to as high as 14 x 10^ 

 (from review by Alvarez-Lajonchere 1982). Unfor- 

 tunately, the methods whereby these values were 

 obtained are often not given, so many reports have 

 to be considered suspect. In addition, data concern- 

 ing size-related trends in the fecundity of striped 

 mullet are nearly nonexistent. By contrast, our esti- 

 mates of fecundity (0.25 x 10*^ to 2.5 x 10*^) are 

 well-documented and demonstrate a clear and highly 

 predictable relationship between individual fecun- 

 dity and body size. 



In conclusion, this study describes the pattern of 

 oocyte development during seasonal ovarian recru- 

 descence in the striped mullet, proposes an ovarian 

 staging system based on oocyte stages and size- 

 frequency profiles, gives a range of values for the 

 female size at maturity, and presents the only com- 

 prehensive examination of size-related fecundity for 

 M. cephalus to date. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This research was supported in part by National 

 Science Foundation Grant DCB-8511260 to Robin 

 A. Wallace. Special thanks go to Lynn Milstead for 

 her assistance in preparing the figures. 



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