FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 2 



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° 1978 Fall Spawned Group 

 a 1979 Fall Spawned Group 



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1 Nov 'Dec' Jan 1 Feb 'Mar' Apr'May'jun 1 Jul 'Aug 1 Sep' Oct ' Nov 1 Dec 1 Jan ' Feb 1 Mar ! Apr 'May 1 Jun'jul' 'Aug' Sep 1 

 AGEO AGE 1 



GROWTH PERIOD 



Oct 



FIGURE 12. — Monthly growth increments for 1978 and 1979 fall-spawned Larimus fasciatus. Unadjusted growth increments (Table 3) 

 were converted to growth/30 d, omitting collections of five or less fish. Negative growth is rounded to zero. Values denoted by darkened 

 symbols may reflect incomplete recruitment, gear selection for larger young, or cool-water temperatures early in life. 



50 1 00 1 50 



TOTAL LENGTH (mm) 



200 



FIGURE 13. — Length frequencies and cumulative percentage of 

 all Larimus fasciatus collected off Freeport, Tex., October 1977- 

 August 1981. 



and few ever approached age II except in July 1981 

 as previously noted. The latter instance suggests 

 larger, older specimens of L. fasciatus may occur 

 elsewhere; if so, our estimate of t L may be too low 

 for a stock that also ranges outside the northwest- 

 ern Gulf. 



Larimus fasciatus from fall-spawned groups 

 have an apparent total annual mortality rate of 

 90-100% in the northwestern Gulf, mean time and 

 cohort-specific values being 92-100%. Time- 

 specific values of 1 — S were 100% in 17 of the 38 

 mo in which fish were collected (Fig. 6) because 

 only one fall-spawned group was present and N, 

 was zero in the ratio N,/N - Time-specific mortal- 

 ity estimates for the 18 remaining months gave 

 ratios whose percentage values ranged from 89.93 

 to 99.96%; 14 exceeded 94%. Pooled estimates 

 using Heincke's procedure were 97.18-100% de- 

 pending on the spawned groups compared (Table 

 7). By pooling the Heincke numerators and de- 

 nominators from each comparison an average 

 time-specific 1 - S was 98.24%, or 96.86% if data 

 from July 1981 are included. Cohort-specific val- 

 ues of 1 - S were 100% in 12 of the 24 mo for fall 

 1978 fish and in 2 of the 12 mo for fall 1979 fish 

 because N t was zero. Cohort-specific estimates for 

 the remaining 6 mo in the fall 1978 cohort ranged 

 from 97.83 to 99.81% except in June and July 1980 

 when estimates were 64.84 and 55.05% . Estimates 

 for the remaining 7 mo in fall 1979 cohort ranged 



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