NOTE Gobert et al.: Biology of Etelis oculatus in the Caribbean 



423 



E. carbunculus and E. coruscans (Brouard and 

 Grandperrin"), other deepwater lutjanids (Board- 

 man and Weiler, 1980; Cuellar et al., 1996), and 

 many reef fish species. The maximum size recorded 

 for large samples (90 cm FL) is much greater than 

 the 60 cm TL indicated by Allen (1985) but is con- 

 sistent with other field observations, such as 94 cm 

 TL in Saint-Lucia (Murray, 1989) or 100 cm TL in 

 Venezuela (Cervigon, 1991). 



No reliable growth estimate could be obtained be- 

 cause males and females showed very different size 

 structures, and the only data suitable for length-fre- 

 quency analysis were data for which the sexes had 

 not been determined. 



Important differences were found between sexes in 

 terms of size structure and maturation size. Male E. 

 oculatus attain a smaller length than females, and 

 are much rarer above 45 cm. Sex-ratios skewed in 

 favor of females in large size classes were observed 

 in the most complete studies of snapper populations 

 (Grimes, 1987), including Pacific deepwater snap- 

 pers (Brouard and Grandperrin 7 ), and probably re- 

 sult from a difference in growth and mortality be- 

 tween the sexes; in Cuba, for instance, females of 

 most snapper species have been found to grow faster 

 than males (Claro and Garcia-Arteaga, 2001). In 

 the present study, sex-specific growth and mortality 

 estimates were not available, but our interpretation 

 seems likely because other possible causes could be 

 ruled out, such as selectivity of nets (morphometric 

 relationships are identical for both sexes) and fish be- 

 havior in relation to fishing gear (differences between 

 sexes, however, were observed in trammel nets and 

 lines whose catch mechanism is completely different). 

 Different habitat preferences, which can lead to sex- 

 related size structures in reef species (Garcia-Cagide 

 et al., 2001), seem unlikely in our study because the 

 deep slopes have fewer habitat gradients than the 

 shallower reef environments and because no relation 

 was found between depth and sex-ratio. A similar 

 difference between males and females was found for 

 reproductive size. Male snappers generally mature at 

 a slightly smaller size than females, but sex does not 

 appear as a significant factor of variation for relative 

 length at first reproduction, as opposed to depth or 

 continental or insular habitat (Grimes, 1987). 



In the Lesser Antilles, E. oculatus spawns at the end 

 of the year and has a period of sexual rest during from 

 late spring through early summer. These results are 

 not sufficient to establish the entire annual reproduc- 

 tive pattern, and even these partial findings cannot be 

 applied to other parts of the Caribbean because snap- 

 per populations of continental and insular shelves gen- 

 erally show different seasonal patterns of reproduction 

 (Grimes, 1987). This indication of a spawning period 

 for E. oculatus in the cold season contrasts with the two 

 eteline species (Aprion virescens and E. coruscans) stud- 

 ied in Hawaii, which have a protracted spawning period 

 extending through the summer (May or June through 

 October or November) (Everson et al., 1989). 



26 30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58 62 66 70 74 



100% 



80% 



60° 



40% 



20% 



0% 



B 



~3i 



26 30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58 62 66 70 74 

 FL (cm) 



Figure 4 



Proportion of sexual stages by 2-cm length classes for 

 (A) female (n=191) and (B) male (/; = 118 ) queen snapper 

 iEtelis oculatus): immature fish (gray), maturing fish 

 (large squares), prespawning (horizontal bars), spawn- 

 ing (oblique bars), postspawning (vertical bars), sexual 

 rest (black). Empty areas indicate the absence of data for 

 the length class. 



Brouard, F., and R. Grandperrin. 1985. Les poissons pro- 

 fonds de la pente recifale externe a Vanuatu. South Pacific 

 Commission, r7<" me conference technique regionale des peches, 

 Noumea (Nouvelle Caledonie) 5-9 August 1985. SPC/Fish- 

 eries 17/WP.12 , 131 p. [Available from SPC, BP D5, 98848 

 Noumea Cedex, New-Caledonia, France.] 



