Venerus et al .: Early life history of Pseudopercis semifasaata 



205 



transition juveniles collected in northeast Camarones 

 Bay, between 43°50'S and 44°43'S, indicated birth dates 

 between February and March (Venerus and Brown, 

 2003); 2) the collection of one P. se/nifasciata larva in 

 San Jorge Gulf (46°30'S 67°18'W) on 30 March 1985; 

 and 3) macroscopic observations of the ovaries from 24 

 mature females angled near Islas Blancas. Camarones 

 Bay (ca. 44°46'S 65°38'W) on 26 and 27 January 2002, 

 most of which (58.3%) were in the late developing stage 

 (rc = 4) or in the gravid and running stage (;;=10) (mac- 

 roscopic maturation stages sensu Gonzalez, 1998). This 

 delayed spawning pulse in the southern stocks appar- 

 ently follows the annual cycle of seawater warming on 

 the Argentine shelf (Ciancio 6 ). Similar delays have been 

 reported for the Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) 

 (Pajaro and Macchi 7 ; Machinandiarena et al. 8 ). 



Further investigations focused on the seasonal distri- 

 bution of spawners are needed to confirm the existence 

 of spawning aggregations indicated by the presence of 

 larvae and posttransition juveniles. Mark-recapture and 

 telemetry studies could be used to investigate the spa- 

 tial dynamics of reproductive activity of this species in 

 the Argentine Sea. Given the relative sedentary habits 

 of adult Argentine sandperches, the use of reproductive 

 refuges appear a priori to provide a suitable approach 

 to protect this species. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank the crew and scientific staff on board for col- 

 lecting the material. We also thank Atila Gosztonyi, 

 Raul Gonzalez, and two anonymous reviewers for pro- 

 viding useful comments on the manuscript. L.A.V. was 

 supported by a fellowship from Consejo Nacional de 

 Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET). 



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