FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 86, NO. 4 



NDJFMAMJJASON 

 MONTH 



Figure 5.— Mean gonadosomatic index (GSI) otApristurus bruyi- 

 neus males (above) and females (below) from November 1983 

 through November 1984. Cross-hatched bar indicates months when 

 females were carrying egg cases. Vertical bars are 95% confidence 

 intervals. 



The number of oocytes larger than 4 mm was cor- 

 related with size among mature females (r = 0.425, 

 P < 0.001); the maximum number was 29. Atretic 

 oocytes were observed from March through Novem- 

 ber and spent fish (no oocytes larger than 2-3 mm; 

 N = 2) were collected in December and July. 



Egg cases were found in the oviducts of 48 A. 

 brunneus females larger than 450 mm (37% of 

 mature females); the egg cases were not complete- 

 ly formed in only one individual. Females with egg 

 cases were collected every month except February 

 and August (Fig. 5). More mature females carried 

 egg cases from December through May (42%) than 

 from June through November (29%), although the 

 difference was not significant {)c = 2.24, P > 0.1). 

 Egg case length (measured between the tendrils) 

 was correlated with female total length (r = 0.386, 

 P < 0.02). The mean ratio of egg case length to 

 female total length was 0.114 (SD = 0.019). 



Seasonal changes in gonadal development were 

 not pronounced among P. xaniurus. Male GSI was 

 high throughout the year; female GSI was highest 

 in winter and lowest in summer (Fig. 7). Large 



5 10 15 20 



OOCYTE DIA (MM) 



Figure 6.— Mean monthly oocyte (>4 mm) size- 

 frequency distribution of Apristuriis brunneiis 

 from November 1983 (bottom) to November 

 1984 (top). Sample size in parentheses. 



696 



