14 15 16 17 18 

 TOTAL LENGTH (cm) 



FIGURE 6.— Length-maturity relationship 

 in 995 female and 941 male white croaker 

 collected off southern California, 1978-81. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 1 



Larvae 



Data from our ichthyoplankton surveys showed that 

 white croaker spawning occurs every month of the 

 year (Fig. 10). However, a distinct seasonal spawning 

 period can be deduced from findings that few larvae 

 were collected from June through November, 

 whereas high densities were encountered from 

 January through April with a strong peak in March. 

 Results of our study in King Harbor, Redondo Beach 

 (Fig. 11), confirm the peak densities of white croaker 

 larvae in January, February, and March. 



White croaker larvae constitute an important com- 

 ponent of the neritie ichthyoplankton fauna of the 

 Southern California Bight, ranking second in overall 

 abundance behind the northern anchovy, Engraulis 

 mordax. On a per transect basis (Fig. 12), white 

 croaker larvae ranked first in abundance at all tran- 

 sects between Palos Verdes 1 ' and Laguna Beach and 



n Genyonemus and Engraulis were virtually tied for first place at 

 Redondo Beach with 40.1% and 40.39;, respectively. 



MONTEREY 



SOUTHERN 

 CALIFORNIA 



1 



I 



i 



1 



1 



1 



_L 



JAN 



FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC 



Figure 7. — Seasonal changes in the gonosomatic index (GSI-gonad weight as a percentage 

 of total body weight) of female white croaker (based on 720 southern California and 223 

 Monterey individuals). Vertical lines indicate 95',' confidence intervals of the mean. 



188 



