JOHNSON and SALOMAN: AGE, GROWTH, AND MORTALITY OF GRAY TRIGGERFISH 



mates of mortality (Table 8) were similar to those 

 of demersal marine fish such as the white grunt, 

 Haemulon plumieri, where a = 0.37-0.51 and the 

 red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, where a = 0.32-0.55 

 (Manooch 1976; Manooch and Huntsman 1977) 

 that inhabit similar habitats. The mortality rates 

 for gray triggerfish probably reflected the exploi- 

 tation level on this species in the northeast Gulf 

 of Mexico. Nelson and Manooch (1982) reported 

 similar values (/ = 0.39-0.50) for red snapper, 

 Lutjanus campechanus, from the Carolinas and 

 Florida coasts where the fishing pressure is light 

 to medium and much higher values (i — 0.78- 

 0.94) from the fishery off Louisiana where the 

 commercial fishing pressure is high. The effect 

 of fishing on gray triggerfish populations were 

 therefore assumed to be similar to the effects of 

 fishing on these other reef fish resources. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We thank H. F. Horton, Oregon State Univer- 

 sity, Corvallis, Oreg.; E. D. Prince, National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries 

 Center, Miami, Fla.; and R. S. Nelson, National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries 

 Center, Beaufort, N.C., for their valuable criti- 

 cisms of the manuscript. 



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