516 



Fishery Bulletin 104(4) 



180 



150 



120 - 



90 



60 - 



:[Jil 



Males (n=429) 

 Females (n=590) 



L 



^^/V^/b^>^,<?,fo^A^A^.c,^o0^o^^oa^o'b^ 



N" N" \^ \'» N'J N'' 



f v n/ V 



Fork length (mm) 



200 



150 



100 - 



50 



L 



Males (n=429) 

 Females (n=590) 



Figure 3 



(A) Length-frequency and (B) age-frequency 

 distributions for males and females of western 

 butterfish ^Pcntapivlu^ rittfiK 



stage-Ill ((ieveloping) and stage-IV (maturing) ovaries 

 were first found in July and were also present in Sep- 

 tember. Fish with stage-V (prespawning) and stage-VI 

 (spawning) ovaries collectively dominated the samples 

 obtained in October to December and were still the 



most prevalent group in January. The samples in Janu- 

 ary also contained one fish with stage-VIII (recovering 

 spent) and some with stage-II ovaries but none with 

 ovaries at stages III or IV (Fig. 5). The above trends 

 provide strong evidence that any female with ovaries 



