48 



Fishery Bulletin 98(1) 



80 



c 60 



150 



100 



Males (n = 658) 



Females (n = 592) 



Total (n= 1327) 



125 150 175 



Fork length (cm) 



Figure 3C 



200 



225 



250 



The mean ovum count from six weighed subsamples 

 was 72.2 ova per gram (SE=2.6), producing an esti- 

 mated total number of 198,000 ova. Ova diameters 

 were mostly 1.5-3.3 mm; a group of larger ova had di- 

 ameters of 3.4-4.7 mm (Fig. 5). In addition to the em- 

 bryos, the right uterus contained three egg capsules, 

 and in the left uterus a 22.0-cm embryo had an egg 

 capsule lodged in its mouth. Three of the capsules 

 were empty and the fourth contained four ova (Fig. 6). 

 Uterus width, estimated from a photograph contain- 

 ing a ruler, was about 10 cm. In other females with 

 near-term embryos, uterus width was about 20 cm. 

 The anterior quarter of the uteiois had many longitu- 

 dinal folds or pleats, and the rest was covered with 

 small papillae and had a velvety texture. 



Litter size, embryonic growth, and gestation 



Data were obtained from 43 litters and 138 embryos 

 (Table 1). All but four of the 40 litters for which litter 

 size was known contained four embryos, two in each 

 uterus. The exceptions were two litters reported by 



Graham ( 1939, 1956) with two and three embiyos re- 

 spectively, one reported by Hanchet " with three em- 

 bryos, and a New Zealand longline-caught litter with 

 two midterm embryos. Mean litter size was 3.85. Of 

 132 embryos that were sexed, 73 were males and 59 

 were females, producing a sex ratio not significantly 

 different from one (;^-=1.48, P>0.1). 



Regi-ession equations relating different embryo 

 length measurements (in cm) were: 



PL = -0.125 -I- 0.885 FL 

 TL^.^^=: 0.180 -I- 1.162 FL 

 FL = -0.085 -I- 0.859 TL,,^, 

 TL,,,.^ = 0.836 -f 1.170 FL 



FL = -0.644 + 0.853 TL 



Ilex 



(n=97,r-=0.999) 

 (n=96, r"=0.998) 

 (/!=96, r-=0.998) 

 (,z=87,r-=0.998) 

 (n=87, /•2=0.998) 



A log-log regi-ession of yolk-free embryo weight (kg) 

 against FL ( cm ) gave 



'Hanchet.S. 1996. National InstituteofWaterandAtmospheric 

 [{(■search (NIWA). P. O. Box 893. Nelson, New Zealand. Personal 

 commun. 



