many cases, it accounted for a large fraction of the 

 content. Sicyonia penicillata seems to be a 

 generalized carnivore, feeding on small benthic 

 crustaceans, mollusks, and polychaetes. 



Biometric Relationships 



Biometric relationships were obtained from a 

 series of 82 specimens selected from the total catch 

 at station 38. Carapace length/total length rela- 

 tionships were assessed for 24 males (TL: 85-49 

 mm) and 58 females (TL: 97-43 mm). The male 

 relationship was TL = 4.73 + 3.74 CL (r = 0.992) 

 and the female relationship was TL = 4.51 + 3.63 

 CL (r = 0.991). Relationships assessed for each sex 

 were significantly different from one another la- 

 test on slope; P < 0.001). Carapace length/weight 

 relationships were also assessed for each sex and 

 the following equations were obtained: male W = 

 1.1 x 10" 3 CL 29775 (r = 0.978) and female W = 

 1.7807 x 10" 3 CL 27733 (r = 0.985) (Fig. 2). 



Fishing Potential 



Commercial concentration of Sicyonia penicil- 

 lata were found at two localities only (33 and 66.4 

 kg/h). These values are comparable with the catch 

 reported for Sicyonia spp. by Cobb et al. (1973) off 

 the northeast coast of Florida (up to 46 kg/h). 

 There is little information available on commer- 

 cial catch in the Gulf of California. Unpublished 

 data obtained from the Mexican Fishery Institute 

 (Institute de Pesca) indicate total catch between 

 40 and 1,572.5 t/yr for the period of 1977-82 in the 

 northern and central Gulf (data are for the fishing 

 harbor of Guaymas, Sonora, for five consecutive 

 fishing seasons: 1977-78, 40 t; 1978-79, 610.3 t; 

 1979-80, 1,572.5 t; 1980-81, 167.5 t; 1981-82, 207.0 

 t). These catches corresponded to mixed captures 

 of rock shrimp where S. penicillata and S. 

 aliaffinis seemed to predominate. In 1979-80, 

 when the peak catch was obtained, large quan- 

 tities of Sicyonia were brought by truck to Es- 

 were dried in huge chile-ovens, peeled, and sold as 

 appetizer or seasoning (D. Castro 3 ). 



Prior to this report, information related to 

 fishery grounds, catches, and fishery potential 

 were only available for two American species of 

 Sicyonia: S. ingentis, along the coast of southern 

 California, and S. brevirostris, in the South Atlan- 

 tic Bight and in the Gulf of Mexico. Data obtained 

 on Sicyonia penicillata indicate that it is the most 

 abundant rock shrimp for the entire Gulf of 

 California. Although the annual rock shrimp 

 catch in the area varied considerably over the past 

 6 yr (1977-82), it averaged over 500 t/yr. Compara- 

 tive values for the three species may be found in 

 Table 3. Although these data are not comparable 

 with one another for each year, they clearly dem- 

 onstrate the relative abundance of S. penicillata 

 in the northern Gulf of California. 



Sicyonia penicillata is a medium-sized species 

 which average about 90 per kilogram in the north- 

 ern Gulf of California, compared with S. ingentis 

 which averages about 45 per kilogram in the 

 Santa Barbara-Ventura area (Frey 1971). This 

 small size, added to the processing difficulties for 

 hard-shell shrimps, still represents a serious im- 

 pediment for the development of a fishery. 



Acknowledgments 



The author wishes to thank all scientists, stu- 

 dents, and crew members of the RV El Puma who 

 took an active part in collecting the material dur- 

 ing the CORTES Cruise aboard the El Puma. 



Literature Cited 



ARANA, e, and m. mEndez. 



1978. El genero Sicyonia H. Milne Edwards, 1830 en el 

 Padfico Sur Oriental, con observaciones biologicas sobre 

 Sicyonia aliaffinis Burkenroad, 1934 (Crustacea: Dec- 

 apoda: Penaeidae). Rev. Com. Perm. Pac. Sur. 9:19-40. 

 ARREGUlN-SANCHEZ, F. 



1981. Diagnosis de la pesqueria de camaron de roca 

 (Sicyonia brevirostris Stimpson, 1871) de Contoy, Q. Roo, 

 Mexico. Cienc. Pesq. 1(2):21-41. 



3 D. Castro, Research Assistant, Centro de Investigaciones 

 Pesqueras, I.N.P., Mazatlan, Sinaloa, pers. commun. July 1983. 



TABLE 3. — Landings of Sicyonia in three North American fishing areas. 



Species 



Area 



S. ingentis Southern California. USA 



S. brevirostris Contoy, Quintana Roo, Mexico 

 (heads off) South Atlantic and Florida, U 



S. penicillata Guaymas, Northern Gulf of 



California, Mexico 



Year 



Landings 

 (t) 



Author 



718 



