ROSS: REPRODUCTION OF BANDED DRUM 



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 Q 



4.5 

 4. OH 

 3.5 

 3.0 



§2.5 



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O 2.0 

 C3 



-Z- 1.5 

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7 



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F M A 



MONTH 



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FIGURE 2.— Monthly mean gonad index of male and female banded drum from October 

 1975 to September 1976 in North Carolina, including sample size and ±1 standard 

 error of the mean. 



cept December 1975 and January, April, May, and 

 June 1976 (Fig. 3) support an extended late spring 

 through early fall spawning season. Major young-of- 

 the-year (1976 year class) recruitment, evidently 

 from Spring spawning, first appeared in July 1976 

 and continued through September 1976. Young-of- 

 the-year from the 1975 year class were evident from 

 September 1975 through November 1975 and ap- 

 peared again in February 1976 (Fig. 3). This young- 

 of-the-year recruitment over a long period with a lack 

 of bimodal length frequencies indicated sustained 

 spawning effort. Other collections in and near the 

 lower Cape Fear River of Larimus fasciatus <40 mm 

 SL in January, February, April, June, July, Septem- 

 ber, November, and December also indicated ex- 

 tended spawning (K. A. MacPherson 4 ). 



The majority of the reproductively active adults 

 were collected near the Cape Lookout area (Fig. 1), 

 especially during August and September where bot- 

 tom water temperature averaged 27° (August) to 

 20°C (September). A high percentage (48.9-100%) of 

 the total number of females collected in the Cape 

 Lookout area exhibited maturing or ripe gonads 

 while corresponding percentages from Cape Fear 



4 K. A. MacPherson, biologist, Carolina Power and Light Company, 

 Brunswick Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 10429, Southport, N.C. 

 28461, pers. commun. 1977. 



FIGURE 3. — Length frequencies of Larimus fasciatus collected in 

 North Carolina from September 1975 through September 1976. 



SEP 1975 

 n=118 



25 55 85 115 145 175 



STANDARD LENGTH(mm) 



229 



