May 1984, a specimen of S. meadi was collected at 

 a depth of 412 m using a 17 m otter trawl at lat. 

 28°59.85'N, long. 79°55.98'W. The shark measured 

 430 mm in length and weighed 0.4 kg. This shark, 

 together with its stomach contents, is deposited at 

 the Ichthyological Museum of the Florida Depart- 

 ment of Natural Resources, St. Petersburg (FSBC 

 16208). Examination of the reproductive system 

 revealed a developing right ovary measuring 4.4 cm 

 long and 0.6 cm wida The left ovary was atrophied. 

 Follicles teased from the right ovary measured 0.75 

 mm in diameter. The nidamental glands were 3.0 mm 

 wide and 8.0 mm long. The oviduct, from nidamen- 

 tal gland to vagina, was 82 mm long and 1.0 mm 

 wide Gut content examination revealed several 

 cephalopod beaks and tentacles, shrimp remains, and 

 the articulated caudal skeleton from a relatively 

 large, unidentified teleost. 



This specimen of S. meadi is the third and largest 

 female collected to date. Burgess et al. (1979) 

 reported on the collection of a 385 mm total length 

 female in which the right ovary measured 33.2 mm 

 and the left 8.9 mm in length. This represents about 

 8.6% of the total length of the shark. The right ovary 

 of the specimen reported in this paper represents 

 about 10.2% of the shark's total length. This 

 specimen is immature, but the allometric increase 

 in ovary length, and the fact that the left ovary was 

 completely atrophied suggests that the specimen 

 might be considered a subadult (maturation begun). 

 The small size of the Florida Bahama specimens 

 compared with the North Carolina examples led 

 Burgess et al. (1979) to suggest geographical size 

 segregation. This large specimen from off the cen- 

 tral Florida east coast does not support this segrega- 

 tion. Discovery, in gut content examination, of the 

 large, teleost caudal skeleton suggests an unexpected 

 ability to prey on relatively large fishes. 



Acknowledgments 



I would like to thank David Camp, Mark Leiby, Bill 

 Lyons, Mike Murphy Jim Quinn, Steve Ealsh, and 

 the captain and crew of the RV Delaware II. 



Literature Cited 



Burgess, G. H., G. W. Link, Jr., and S. W. Ross. 



1979. Additional marine fishes new or rare to Carolina waters. 

 Northeast Gulf Sci. 3(2):74-87. 

 Springer, S. 



1966. A review of western Atlantic cat sharks, Scyliorhinidae, 

 with descriptions of a new genus and five new species. U.S. 

 Fish. Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 65:581-624. 

 1979. A revision of the catsharks, Family Scyliorhinidae U.S. 

 Dep. Commer., NOAA Ttech. Rep. NMFS Cir. 422, 152 p. 



Springer, S., and V. Sadowsky. 



1970. Subspecies of the western Atlantic cat shark, 

 Scyliorhinus retifer. Proa Biol. Soc Wash. 83:83-98. 



Glenn R. Parsons 



Department of Marine Sciences 

 University of South Florida 

 HO Seventh Avenue South 

 St. Petersburg, FL 33701 



A COMPARISON OF SCALE AND 

 OTOLITH AGING METHODS FOR THE 

 ALEWIFE, ALOSA PSEUDOHARENGUS ' 



Beginning in 1971, the Maine Department of Marine 

 Resources monitored the harvests of anadromous 

 alewives ascending the Damariscotta River (Libby 

 1982). Part of this monitoring assessed changes in 

 age composition within and between years. Aging 

 was done by interpreting the number of scale annuli 

 in terms of fish age as has been done in earlier in- 

 vestigations (Havey 1961; Rothschild 1963; Marcy 

 1969). However, scale annuli were sometimes difficult 

 to interpret, so in 1979, methods for removing and 

 reading alewife otoliths were studied. A relatively 

 fast and efficient method was developed for remov- 

 ing otoliths. The ease with which the otoliths were 

 processed to age fish prompted an analysis of which 

 method (scales or otoliths) was best for determin- 

 ing the age of an alewife This paper compares the 

 precision of reproducibility and accuracy between the 

 scale and otolith methods. 



Materials and Methods 



Alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus, were taken daily 

 from the commercial harvest throughout the fishing 

 period for their otoliths and scales. The fish were 

 taken to the laboratory sexed, and measured for 

 length and weight. About 10 scales were removed 

 from the left side above the lateral line just posterior 

 to the dorsal fin. The scales were cleaned and put 

 into envelopes labeled with the length and sex of the 

 alewife In 1963, Rothschild described the alewife 

 scale and characteristics of the annuli. 



Otoliths were collected and stored as follows: A 



"This study was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, under 

 Public Law 89-304, as amended, Commercial Fisheries Research 

 and Development Act, Project AFC-21-1. 



696 



FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 83, NO. 4, 1985. 



