ASPECTS OF THE LIFE HISTORY AND FISHERY OF 

 THE WHITE CROAKER, GENYONEMUS LINEATUS (SCI AENIDAE), 



OFF CALIFORNIA 



Milton S. Love, 1 Gerald E. McGowen, 2 William Westphal ' 

 Robert J. Lavenberg, 2 and Linda Martin' 



ABSTRACT 



White croaker. Genyonemus lineatus (Ayres), was a dominant species off southern California in nearshore, 

 sandy substratum waters, and comprised 29.7% of all fish taxa taken in otter trawl hauls. Juveniles occurred 

 in waters < 27 m and the mean length of all individuals increased with depth. The maximum depth of capture 

 was 183 m. 



White croaker live to 1 2 years, exhibiting rapid growth which is essentially constant throughout the species' 

 life. Females grew at a slightly faster rate than males. Von Bertalanffy age-length parameters for females 

 wereL„ = 60.7,fc = 0.04,( =-7.6,andformalesL oc = 59.2,& = 0.03,r o =-8.7.Afterlyear,morethan50% 

 of the individuals are mature, but others delay maturity for 4 years. Larger females had longer spawning 

 seasons than did smaller individuals. Although spawning occurred throughout the year, principal spawning 

 occurred between November and April, with a February-March peak. White croaker are batch spawners; 

 females spawned 18-24 times a season. Batch fecundities ranged from 800 to 37,200 eggs. White croaker 

 reproduction off Monterey differed significantly from that off southern California. Large-scale spawning 

 occurred from at least July through February, and continued throughout the year. Colder water off Monterey 

 may have allowed for extended spawning activity. 



White croaker larvae were a significant constituent of the southern California ichthyoplankton fauna, 

 second in abundance to northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax, in waters <36 m deep. Data from ichthyoplankton 

 surveys indicated two spawning centers, one located from Redondo Beach to Laguna Beach and a smaller 

 one centered about Ventura. Highest larval densities were found near the substratum in 15-22 m of water. 

 White croaker is an important part of the skiff sportfishery and the basis of a growing commercial gill net 

 fishery. Size frequencies of white croaker taken in both fisheries indicated that few juveniles were 

 captured. 



Fishes of the family Sciaenidae (drums) are a major 

 constituent of the fauna of the eastern temperate 

 Pacific coast off California (Skogsberg 1939; Frey 

 1971). Eight species have been recorded off Califor- 

 nia, primarily in inshore waters. With the exception of 

 the shortfin corvma,Cynoscionparvipinnis, and black 

 croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum, all six of the other 

 species known from off California (white seabass, 

 Atractoscion nobilis; white croaker, Genyonemus 

 lineatus; California corbina, Mentieirrhus undulatus; 

 spotfin croaker, Roncador stearnsii; queenfish, 

 Seriphus politus; yellowfin croaker, Umbrina ron- 

 cador) are of sport or commercial importance. 



The white croaker is an abundant species that 

 associates with soft (primarily sand) substrata in the 

 coastal zone. White croaker are small (reaching 



'Vantuna Research Group, Department of Biology, Occidental 

 College, Los Angeles, CA 90041. 



'Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition 

 Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007. 



'Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, P.O. Box 223, Moss Landing, 

 CA 95039. 



lengths of 41.4 cm total length, Miller and Lea 1972) 

 and active fishes that range from the surf zone to 

 depths of 183 m between Vancouver Island, British 

 Columbia, Canada, south to Magdalena Bay, Baja 

 California, Mexico. Within this geographic range, 

 they are most abundant between San Francisco Bay 

 and northern Baja California. White croaker are 

 omnivores, feeding on a variety of benthic and 

 epibenthic forms (crustaceans, clams, polychaetes, 

 and small fishes, particularly the northern anchovy, 

 Engraulis mordax (Phillips et al. 1972; Morejohn et 

 al. 1978; Ware 1979)). 



White croaker are the mainstay of pier and small 

 boat sportfish catches in both southern (Pinkas et al. 

 1968; Wine and Hoban 1976) and central California 

 (Miller and Gotshall 1965). In addition, commercial 

 catches have increased in recent years to 200,000 kg/ 

 yr. 4 Despite this, G. lineatus is a much maligned 

 species, as it is small and adept at bait-stealing. More- 



Manuscript accepted June 1983. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 1, 1984. 



4 M. Oliphant, California Department of Fish and Game, Long 

 Beach, CA 90802, pers commun. July 1981. 



179 



