734 



Fishery Bulletin 98(4) 



species, the removal of males causes females to change 

 sex (Sadovy and Shapiro, 1987). Therefore, the removal of 

 larger fish (males) by fisheries causes smaller and smaller 

 females to change sex and results in an increase in the 

 proportion of smaller-size males. 



Based on monthly changes in the percentage of fish in 

 the various maturity classes, the frequencies of different 

 oocj'te stages, and GSI, we believe that red porgy spawn 

 in the GOM from January to April. Our findings are con- 

 sistent with spawning season observations reported for 

 red porgy in the GOM by Nelson (1988), in the SAB by 

 Manooch (1976), in the Canary Islands by Pajuelo and 

 Lorenzo (1996), and in the Mediterranean Sea by Vassi- 

 lopoulou (1989) and Vassilopoulou and Papaconstantinou 

 (1992). 



Acknowledgments 



We thank the owners, staff, clients, and especially Capt. 

 Ed Thompson of Hubbard's Marina for their assistance 

 in obtaining samples from recreationally caught fish. We 

 thank the staff of Captain's Finest Seafood, Dick's Sea- 

 food. Fishin' Inc., Holiday Seafood, and Nachman's Native 

 Seafood for their assistance in sampling the commercial 

 fishery. We thank Lew Bullock. Eric Eaton, Dave Harsh- 

 any, Dan Merryman, Heather Patterson, Fred Stengard, 

 and Connie Stevens for their assistance in collecting and 

 processing samples. We thank Barbara Purich and the 

 staff of the Pathology Laboratory. College of Veterinary 

 Medicine. University of Florida, for their assistance in the 

 histological preparation of gonad samples. We thank Bob 

 Dixon for supplying the NMFS Headboat Survey data. We 

 thank Mike Murphy for his assistance in the data analy- 

 ses of age, growth, and mortality. We thank Susan Low- 

 erre-Barbieri. Roy Crabtree. Judy Leiby. John Merriner. 

 Mike Murphy, Jim Quinn, Ron Taylor, and four anonymous 

 reviewers for their valuable reviews of this paper. We thank 

 Linda Torres for her assistance in the administration of 

 the budget for this study. This study was funded by the U.S. 

 Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmo- 

 spheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Ser- 

 vice MARFIN program, award number NAS57FF0289. 



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