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Fishery Bulletin 97(3), 1999 



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February. Highest values for 

 the ovarian index, in Febru- 

 ary (0.139 ±0.012), were sig- 

 nificantly greater than were 

 preceding values in Decem- 

 ber or those that followed in 

 March through May. De- 

 creasing measures of relative 

 ovarian width during April 

 through June (Figs. 3C and 

 5C ) were coincident with the 

 second quarter maxima in 

 abundance of ovigerous fe- 

 males (Fig. 3D and 5B) be- 

 cause many of those females 

 had spent ovaries. 



Shape of the eggs was al- 

 most spherical in recently 

 deposited pale yellow to yel- 

 low-orange clutches and be- 

 came more oblong as color 

 faded to translucent gray- 

 brown in late-stage eggs just 

 prior to hatching. Mean egg 

 volume in live late stage eggs 

 was 0.81 ±0.07 mm^ (/! = 76 

 eggs, from 5 different fe- 

 males), and the coefficient of 

 variation in volume within a 

 single egg clutch was 5.09% 

 (/;=30); mean dimensions 

 were 1.22 ±0.04 mm by 1.05 

 ±0.02 mm. The total number 

 of eggs per female ranged 

 from 182 ±44 in small fe- 

 males (<12.0 mm CL; «=30) 

 to 301 ±36 in large females 

 (<14.0 mm CL; /7 = 141). The 

 overall mean number of eggs 

 for all ovigerous females col- 

 lected was 251 ±18 (Ai=:444), 

 and the maximum number 

 found on any single female 

 was 958 on a specimen of 14.2 

 mm CL. Monthly egg counts 

 per ovigerous female, pooled 

 over the study (Fig. 5D), re- 

 vealed peak abundances in 

 February-April, followed by 

 significantly lower numbers 

 in June-July. Thus, the over- 

 all rate of egg production, 

 when considered as a prod- 

 uct of both abundance of 

 ovigerous females and egg 



