FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 78, NO. 1 



AGE GROUP 7 



I I I I I I I I I 



AGE GROUP 8 



I I I I I I I I I I 



•— "■ AGE GROUP 9 



I I I I 



I I I 



AGE GROUP 10 



MAR'aPr'mAy'jUn' JUL'aUg' SEP 'oCt'nOv'dEc' mar' APR 'MAY' JUN' JUL 'AUG' SEP 'OCT-NOVDEC 



MONTHS 

 n = 220 



Figure 5. — Monthly mean gonad index (gonad weight/(total length)^') for female vermilion snapper by age-group. 



Table 3. — Test of the hypothesis that sex ratios of vermilion 

 snapper did not vary significantly from 1:1 within years of collec- 

 tion. 



Item 



1972 



1973 



1974 



Percentage of females 71.9 59.4 62.5 



Sample size 135 424 315 



Chi-square value 25.8' 15.1* 20.8* 



•P 01. 



lected at shelf break habitats than inshore Hve 

 bottom (60.5%), but the hypothesis that sex ratio 

 and capture depth were independent was not re- 

 jected (x2P>0.05, n = 852). 



There is a significant difference in sex ratio 

 throughout the Hfe of the fish (as estimated by 

 total length); however, differences within some 

 size intervals were not judged significant (Table 

 4). Contingency-table analysis showed that sex 

 ratio and size were dependent (x^P>0.05, df = 9) 

 (i.e., with growth sex ratios were different from 1:1 

 and changed significantly). In small fish (101-150 

 mm TL) the number of males and females was 

 nearly equal, but at 151-200 mm TL the percent- 



142 



Table 4. — Tests of the hypothesis that sex ratio of vermilion 

 snapper did not vary significantly from 1:1 within 50 mm TL 

 intervals. 



Total 

 length 

 (mm) 



Females Chi- 

 (%) square 



Total 

 length 

 (mm) 



Females Chi- 

 (%) square 



•P<0.05. 



age of females increased to about 60% , where it 

 remained somewhat stable until 501-550 mm TL, 

 when percentage of females began to steadily in- 

 crease (Table 4). Only one fish >600 mm TL was 

 collected (618 mm) and it was a female. 



Fecundity 



Estimates of fecundity ranged from 8,168 to 

 1,789,998 ova for 41 females ranging from 229 to 

 557 mm TL (3-8 yr old and 136-2,293 g). Because 



