Although there are similarities in reproductive 

 behavior among several squid species, our obser- 

 vations of L. pealei indicate a social structure 

 which is well defined and different from that de- 

 scribed for other species with the possible excep- 

 tion of S. bilineata and S. sepioidea. Since there are 

 relatively few published accounts of in situ 

 copulation and egg-laying activities, it is difficult 

 to know what is normal and what might be altered 

 behavior patterns due to the presence of human 

 observers, submersibles, lights, etc. However, our 

 observations and those of other divers, including 

 two in the same area a week earlier who reported 

 12-15 pairs of squids in a semicircle (TurcoM, indi- 

 cate that the social structure associated with egg- 

 laying behavior is not an isolated phenomenon, 

 but a pattern which is recurrent in populations of 

 L. pealei which frequent New England coastal 

 waters in the summer. 



Acknowledgments 



The authors extend their gratitude to Roger 

 Hanlon for his review of the manuscript. We also 

 thank William K. Macy III for his help during the 

 development of the manuscript. We are grateful to 

 Lianne Armstrong, who prepared the illustration, 

 and to Jennie Dunnington for typing the manu- 

 script. 



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and spawning of the squid, Doryteuthis plei . BioScience 



18:110-111. 



Carolyn a. Griswold 

 jerome p^ezioso 



Northeast Fisheries Center Narragansett Laboratory 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 

 R.R.7A, South Ferry Road 

 Narragansett, RI 02882 



SPAWNING AND SEXUAL MATURITY OF 

 GULF MENHADEN, BREVOORTIA PATRONUS^ 



Earlier studies of egg and larva collections 

 (Turner 1969; Fore 1970; Christmas and Wal- 

 ler^) have shown that Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia 

 patronus, which range throughout the northern 

 Gulf of Mexico from Cape Sable, Fla., to Veracruz, 

 Mexico, spawn from about October to March from 

 near shore to about 97 km offshore at depths of 

 from 2 to 111 m. There have been two previous 

 studies to determine the age of spawning, the 

 number of ova produced, and the peak time of 

 ovary maturation ( Suttkus and Sundararaj 1961; 

 Combs 1969). Our objectives in the present study 

 were to: 1) estimate the minimum number of 

 maturing ova for specific age-groups and size 

 groups, 2) estimate the percentage of fish that 

 spawTi at each age, 3 ) determine the time of spawn- 

 ing, and 4) determine the frequency of spawning. 

 Gulf menhaden make annual inshore-offshore 

 movements. The larvae spend 3-5 wk in offshore 

 waters before moving into estuaries where they 



'Anthony Turco, West Main St., North KingstowTi, R.I., pers. 

 commun. June 1979. 



'Southeast Fisheries Center Contribution No. 81-12B. 



^Christmas, J. Y, and R. S.Waller. 1975. Location and time 

 of menhaden spawning in the Gulf of Mexico. Unpubl. man- 

 user, 20 p. Gulf Coast Res. Lab., Ocean Springs, Miss. (NMFS 

 contract no. 03-4-042-24). 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78. NO. 4. 1981. 



947 



