830 



Fishery Bulletin 88(4), 1990 



9988 



95J4 



9oec 



8626 

 erT2 



6156 



i902 



o- 5448 



I 4994 



i 4540 



4086 



3632 



3178 



2724 



2270 



1816 



K'-A 5267 . 3 0446 Log t: 

 N- 282 



r - 9929 



20 *:■ 6C 9C: 



(OC i2C' >40 I6C' 160 200 22C' 240 260 280 5CO 320 MO 360 380 400 420 4 

 Stondard Length (mm ) 



3 460 460 500 520 540 560 580 600 620 640 660 



Figure 1 



Length- weight relationship for 282 sheeps- 

 head captured in North Carolina. NC = 

 largest North Carolina specimen; LA = 

 world record Louisiana sheepshead. 



Figure 2 



Length-frequency histogram, in 10-mni units, of the 282 sheepshead 

 captured in North Carolina. 



Discussion 



Only Ogburn (1984) has examined the length-weight 

 of sheepshead from Masonboro Inlet Jetty, New Han- 

 over County, NC. Her specimens measured 56-340 

 mmSL and weighed 4.3-1535 g, N = 45; data on five 

 extremely small specimens, 56-63 mmSL, were ex- 

 cluded from the length-weight relationship. However, 

 recalculation of this relationship, using all data, yield- 

 ed the equation log (y) = -4.6927 -t- 3.1309 log (x), 

 /• = 0.9829. Superimposing that recalculation on Figure 

 1 indicated good agreement between her data and that 

 reported here. 



Mook (1977) noted scales on 10-12 mm specimens. 

 Johnson (1978) noted no scales for specimens of 12-mm 

 lengths, but did depict them on a 17-mm specimen. 

 North Carolina specimens smaller than 16 mm pos- 

 sessed no scales but their outlines were present on 

 11-12 mmSL specimens. 



A variety of structures have been used to age fishes 

 (Summerfelt and Hall 1987). The reason only scales 

 were used to age sheepshead was that they were the 

 only structures consistently available during this study, 

 as the fish were obtained from many sources or could 

 not be kept for age determination by vertebra, otoliths, 

 etc. 



The largest sheepshead from nearby South Carolina 

 were 513 mmSL (641,4 mmTL) weighing 6015,5 g, and 

 505 mmSL (625 mmTL) weighing 4900 g (D. Hammond 

 and E. Wenner, S.C. Wild!. Mar. Res. Dep., Charleston, 

 pers. commun., Jan. 1990). These data also fall within 

 the length-weight curve plotted for North Carolina 

 sheepshead (Fig. 1). 



