Murphy and Taylor. Sciaenops ocell3tus in Florida waters 



537 



X 



I- 



O 



z 



lU 



-J 



^ 1000 



o 



• AVERAGE OBSERVED 

 O-O PREDICTED 



EL - 934.1 ll-eKp[-0.460(AGE-0.029)lf 



-J I L 



• AVERAGE OBSERVED 

 O-O PREDICTED 



mm FL - 979.8 (1-e«p!-0.418l AGE*0 149III 



15 



20 



25 



30 



35 



AGE (YEARS) 



Figure 5 



Average observed ( + 2 SD or range if h = 2; see Table 3) and predicted 

 mean lengths of red drum in Florida waters. 



Texas (Wakefield and Colura 1983). However, as noted 

 above the differences in len^h-at-age estimates could 

 be attributed to a sampling bias toward smaller near- 

 shore fish. 



noted by Matlock (1984), that the larger fish which 

 predominately inhabit continental shelf waters were 

 not adequately sampled in Texas and Mississippi. Mat- 

 lock (1984) estimated the von Bertalanffy growth equa- 

 tion for red drum in Texas using data from Pearson 

 (1929) and found what he considered a more reasonable 

 estimate of L^ of 1068 mm TL (1002 mm FL). 



Length-at-age estimates of red drum in Florida were 

 similar to those reported in past literature for red drum 

 in Texas (Pearson 1929, Miles 1951, Simmons and 

 Breuer 1962; Table 4). However, red drum in Florida 

 appear to grow more rapidly than red drum in Missis- 

 sippi (Rohr 1980), South Carolina (Thieling and Loya- 

 cano 1976), and those in a more recent study from 



Mortality 



Ninety-five percent confidence limits for estimates of 

 total annual mortality rate (1 - S) using sample abun- 

 dance data ranged 87-98% for red drum ages 2-4 on 

 the Gulf coast and 50-76% for red drum between ages 

 2-6 on the Atlantic coast during 1981-83. Red drum 

 were fully recruited by age 2. Sample size of fish older 

 than 4 years on the Gulf coast and 6 years on the Atlan- 

 tic coast fell below the suggested lower limit of five fish 

 to ensure unbiased estimates (Chapman and Robson 

 1960). Mean estimates of total annual mortality rates 

 were consistently greater for Gulf coast fish (Table 5). 

 Total annual mortality of red drum has been esti- 

 mated for Everglades National Park in Florida and for 

 Texas bay systems. In Everglades National Park, Rago 



