NOTE Burton et al.: Spawning aggregations of Lutjanus analis at Riley's Hump 



409 



break, on the reef slope or near drop-offs are numer- 

 ous (Randall and Randall, 1963; Smith, 1972; Munro, 

 1974; Colin, 1992; Shapiro et al., 1993; Sadovy et al., 

 1994a. 1994b; Samoilys and Squire, 1994; Sala et al., 

 2003, and others). Heyman (2003) described a single 

 promontory on a Belize reef that harbored spawning 

 aggregations of 26 different species throughout the 

 year. The mutton snapper aggregation from West Caicos 

 (Domeier and Colin, 1997) occurred on a reef near a 

 drop-off into deep water. The south end of Riley's Hump 

 drops quickly from 35 m to well over 50 m. The two 

 sites where we have observed unusually large numbers 

 of mutton snapper are in the vicinity of this drop-off. 

 Station 2, where we observed aggregations of various 

 sizes in all four years, is approximately 300 m inshore 

 of the edge, whereas station 12, where we observed the 

 largest aggregation in June 2003 and July 2004, is 

 within 150 m of the edge (Fig. 2). 



We conclude from behavior, timing, and location that 

 we are observing spawning aggregations of mutton 

 snapper beginning to re-form on Riley's Hump follow- 

 ing more than two decades of intensive exploitation. 

 Although the numbers we observed are not close to 

 anecdotal descriptions of the numbers of fish caught 

 during the height of the commercial fishery at this 

 location, it is encouraging to note that we have seen 

 an increasing number of fish for each successive year 

 that we have surveyed these stations. It is too early to 

 say definitively whether the fish are actually becoming 

 more abundant, but preliminary indications are that 

 one effect of the TSER has been to increase numbers 

 of mutton snapper. Current research plans include con- 

 tinued annual monitoring of transects and increased 

 exploration for additional spawning sites, as well as an 

 expansion of our surveys to the last quarter and new- 

 moon phases in order to continue to try to document the 

 exact timing of spawning. 



Acknowledgments 



We gratefully acknowledge and dedicate this paper to 

 Peter Gladding, master of the FV Alexis M, for his superb 

 boat handling skills and knowledge of Riley's Hump; Peter 

 recently lost his battle with cancer and we will greatly 

 miss his guidance and company on our trips. We acknowl- 

 edge the contributions of Richard Stoker, first mate of 

 the Alexis M for his repeated suggestions and help that 

 improved our research efforts; Don Field, Don Demaria, 

 Bill Gordon, and Ian Workman for their assistance at 

 various times with diving efforts; Lisa Wood for her 

 help with the figures; Jon Hare, Erik Williams, Michael 

 Prager, and three anonymous reviewers for constructive 

 reviews of the manuscript that greatly improved it. 



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