Manickchand-Heileman and Kenny. Micropogoniss furnien in Trinidad waters 



525 



<0.001). Monthly sex ratios showed a higher propor- 

 tion of females from March to October and of males 

 from November to February. 



Fecundity 



Fecundity estimates for 24 fish measuring 27.6-57.2 

 cm ranged from 17x 10^ to 37 x 10'' eggs. Mean num- 

 ber of eggs per gram ovary-free body weight was 449 

 with a standard deviation of 169. Relationships be- 

 tween fecundity and total length, body weight, and 

 ovary weight were described by the following respec- 

 tive regressions: 



F = 2 X 10-'*TL5-56 (r'" = 0.90) 



F = 0.81 W^ 88 (r-^ = 0.89) 



F = 22525Wg - 81355 (/■- = 0.99) 



Length-weight relationship 



The length-weight relationship for males was W = 

 0.035TL- «« and for females W = 0.030TL- *'^ Anal- 

 ysis of covariance showed no significant difference 

 between the two sexes (P>0.05), therefore the data 

 were pooled and one relationship established: W = 

 0.03TL-''-*. Asymptotic weight (W^) was 3641.6 g. 



Condition factor 



Monthly variation in condition factor for males and 

 females is shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. The 

 condition factor was lowest in August for both sexes 

 while it was highest in April for males and in May for 

 females. 



Figure 1 



Mean monthly condition factor (±95% CL) of male croaker in 

 Trinidad waters. Number of fish is given for each month. 



Figure 2 



Mean monthly condition factor ( + 95% CL) of female croaker in 

 Trinidad waters. Number of fish is given for each month. 



Age and growth 



Mean marginal increments were lowest from May to 

 August, indicating that annulus formation occurred 

 during this period (Fig. 3). Fish length was directly pro- 



portional to, and highly correlated with, otolith radius 

 (R): TL = 12.0-h32.7R, (?•- = 0.94). Otolith reading 

 showed the presence of six age groups for males and 

 seven for females, while analysis of length-frequency 



