206 



Fishery Bulletin 98(1) 



t 



1,100 

 1,000 



900 



800 



700 - 



- 600 



73 



500 

 400 

 300 

 200 





my 



- p 



W Walu 

 Present study 



10 



15 

 Age increments 



20 



25 



Figure 5 



Mean observed size at age ( ±SE ) for snowy grouper caught 

 with longHnes and Kali poles in the 1980s. The sagittae 

 were examined by Waltz in = 132; see Footnote 3 in the 

 main text) and investigators in the present study (n = 129i. 



2) by comparing the measurements of otolith radius 

 in these three specimens with the radial measure- 

 ment to the first annulus in a subsample of 23 

 specimens that were age 1. Examination of sagittae 

 from YOY revealed that fish lengths of 37, 156, 

 and 172 mm were associated with estimated ages of 

 35, 159-201 and 191-291 days, respectively. Radial 

 measurement to the edge in these three otoliths was 

 less than the radial measurement to the first annu- 

 lus in a subsample of 23 age-1 specimens. 



Reproduction 



Histological examination of 599 sexually mature 

 snowy grouper in four data sets from three periods 

 ( 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s I suggested that the number 

 of males in the population has substantially decreased. 

 The percentage of males was 7.27^, 19.57., and 22.9'7f 

 for samples collected with hook and line during 

 1973-81, snapper reels during 1980-84, and long- 

 lines and Kali poles during 1982-85, respectively, 

 whereas males represented 1.2% of samples collected 

 with longlines during 1993-94 (Table 7). Although 

 sample sizes were <100 for two data sets, especially 

 the 1993-94 data set, the mean total length (.v=63.6 

 cm,SE=1.0 )ofspecimensinthe 1993-94 data set was 

 larger than the mean length of specimens measured 

 through the TIP in North Carolina ( 1993: .v=58.0 cm, 

 SE=0.6; 1994: i=56.0, SE=1.4) and South Carolina 



Table 6 



Comparison of age distributions by length interval with 

 Fisher's exact test for snowy grouper collected off North 

 Carolina and South Carolina. These comparisons included 

 1) all specimens thafwere caught with longlines dunng 

 1993-94 and assigned an age versus those for which the 

 difference in age assignment between readers was 0-1 

 increments (Best), and 2 1 specimens caught with longlines 

 during 1982-85 that were examined in the present study 

 and by Waltz (Footnote 4 in the main text). Dashed lines 

 indicate that the sample size was less than seven in one or 

 both groups. 



iTL 



Best vs. 

 all 



251-275 

 276-300 

 301-325 

 326-350 

 351-375 

 376-400 

 401-425 

 426-450 

 451^75 

 476-500 

 501-525 

 526-550 

 551-575 

 576-600 

 601-625 

 626-650 

 651-675 

 676-700 

 701-725 

 726-750 

 751-775 

 776-800 

 801-825 

 826-850 

 851-875 

 876-900 

 901-925 

 926-950 

 951-975 

 976-1000 



1.000 

 1.000 

 0.852 

 0.855 

 0.980 

 0.978 

 0.951 

 0.853 

 0.966 

 0.932 

 0.997 

 0.993 

 1.000 

 0.955 

 0.663 

 0.832 

 0.943 

 0.902 



1.000 

 0.795 



0.00256 



a' = adjusted significance level. 



Longline, 



present study 



vs. Waltz 



0.669 

 0.669 



0.242 

 1.000 

 0.660 



0.01021 



( 1993: .v=59.1, SE=0.7; 1994: .r=53.8, SE=0.6) for the 

 same years, indicating that our data set was not 

 biased toward smaller specimens. 



There were ninety-seven males and two transi- 

 tional specimens in the four sex-ratio data sets. 



