stomach contents of Pacific pilot whales. My special 

 thanks to W. E. Evans of Hubbs Sea World 

 Research Institute for his support and encourage- 

 ment throughout this study, which was supported by 

 ONR contract T0044 subproject RR0310201 (W. E. 

 Evans, principal investigator), and NMFS agree- 

 ment 01-6-200 11439. 



Literature Cited 



Banks, R. C, and R. L. Brownell. 



1969. Taxonomy of the common dolphins of the eastern Paci- 

 fic ocean. J. Mammal. 50:262-271. 

 Bowers, C. A., and R. S. Henderson. 



1972. Project Deep Ops: Deep object recoverj' with pilot and 

 killer whales. NUC TP 306, 86 p. Naval Undersea Center, 

 San Diego, CA 92152. 

 Chase, T. E. 



1968. Sea floor topography of central eastern PacijRc Ocean. 

 Bur. Commer. Fish. Circular 291, 33 p. 



Dixon, W. J., and F. J. Massey, Jr. 



1969. Introduction to statistical analysis. 3d ed. McGraw- 

 Hill, N.Y., 638 p. 



Evans, W. E. 



1971. Orientation behavior of delphinids: radio telemetric 

 studies. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 188:142-160. 



1975. Distribution, differentiation of populations, and other 

 aspects of the natural history of Delpkinus delphis Linnaeus 

 in the northeastern Pacific. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. California, 

 Los Angeles, 164 p. 

 Fitch, J. E., and R. L. Brownell, Jr. 



1968. Fish otoliths in cetacean stomachs and their importance 

 in interpreting feeding habits. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 25: 

 2561-2574. 

 Hui, C. A. 



1979. Undersea topography and distribution of dolphins of the 

 genus Delphimis in the southern California bight. J. Mam- 

 mal. 60:521-527. 

 Kritzler, H. 



1949. The pilot whale at Marineland. Natural History 58: 

 302-308, 331-332. 

 Mais, K. F. 



1974. Pelagic fish surveys in the California current. Calif. 

 Dep. Fish Game, Fish Bull. 162, 79 p. 

 Orr, R. T. 



1972. Marine mammals of California. Univ. Calif. Press, 

 Berkeley, 64 p. 



Sergeant, D. E. 



1962. The biology of the pilot or pothead whale Globicephala 

 melaena (Traill) in Newfoundland waters. Fish. Res. Board 

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Clifford A. Hui 



Chemistry and Biochemistry Branch, Code 521 

 Naval Ocean Systems Center 

 San Diego, CA 92152-5000 



LARVAL AND JUVENILE GROWTH OF 



SABLEFISH, ANOPLOPOMA FIMBRIA, AS 



DETERMINED FROM OTOLITH INCREMENTS 



The black cod or sablefish, A naplopoma fimbria, has 

 been the subject of an intensifying fishery off the 

 west coast of North America over the last decade. 

 Biological information on this species, however, in- 

 cluding data on spawning, early life history, age and 

 growth, and population structure, is relatively 

 meager. Sablefish are widely distributed in the 

 northern Pacific, with adults most abundant at 

 depths of 366-915 m (Hart 1973). Mason et al. (1983) 

 suggested that eggs are spawned and developed in 

 waters deeper than 300 m and colder than 6°C off 

 Canada. Juveniles occur in shallow water, however, 

 and larvae are almost exclusively neustonic (Kendall 

 and Clark^). Thus larval development and growth oc- 

 cur in much warmer water than that inhabited by 

 later stages, particularly in the southern portion of 

 the species range. 



Sablefish growth has been described by Heyamoto 

 (1962) and Pruter (1954), among others, who used 

 scale annuli to define the growth pattern. More re- 

 cent work, however, has shown that the age esti- 

 mates, particularly for older, mature fish, are in er- 

 ror; growth is apparently much slower and longevity 

 much greater than previously thought (Beamish and 

 Chilton 1982). The warmer neustonic habitat of the 

 larvae may result in different growth patterns in 

 early life; ontogenetic changes in growth and habitat 

 are relatively common among deeper living fishes 

 (Boehlert 1982; Luczkovich and 011a 1983). The only 

 observations on growth of young sablefish are those 

 of Heyamoto (1962), who suggested that juveniles of 

 12-16 cm fork length (FL) were about 6 mo old. In 

 the present study we report on the growth of field- 

 collected larval and juvenile sablefish where age was 

 estimated by enumerating growth increments on the 

 otoliths. 



Materials and Methods 



Larval and juvenile sablefish were collected in 

 1981-83. Larvae were taken in 0.5 m neuston nets 

 (Sameoto and Jaroszynski 1969) with 0.505 mm 

 mesh, off the coasts of Oregon and Washington dur- 

 ing May 1982 by the RV Posey don. Samples were im- 

 mediately preserved in 80% ethanol. After sorting. 



^Kendall, A. W., Jr., and J. Clark. 1982. Ichthyoplankton off 

 Washington, Oregon, and northern California, April-May 1980. 

 Processed Rep. 82-11, 44 p. Northwest and Alaska Fisheries 

 Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 2725 Montlake 

 Blvd. East, Seattle, WA 98102. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 83, NO. 3, 1985. 



475 



