1 — I — I — \ — I — I — I — n — I— I- 



20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 

 STANDARD LENGTH ( mm ) 



Figure l— Standard length-weight relationship for 250 check- 

 ered puffers from Biscayne Bay, Fla. Functional regression 

 parameters derived by least squares fit to log transformed data, 

 where variance about regression was S^,^ = 0.0014. 



to a greater maximum size than either checkered 

 or bandtail puffers and are approximately the 

 same weight at a given length as checkered puff- 

 ers. 



Checkered puffers decreased in alDundance in 

 June and July due to a drop in numbers of 120-169 

 mm SL fish (Figure 3). (Some individuals may 

 have left the seagrass bed as early as April and 

 May, since a greater effort was needed to catch 

 checkered puffers at that time, ) Males and females 

 decreased equally in abundance. The group leav- 

 ing the seagrass bed may have been going 

 elsewhere to spawn since their departure corre- 

 sponded with the time of capture of ripe individu- 

 als. Some ripe checkered puffers were captured in 

 April and May; and by August, September, and 

 the beginning of October the few adults caught 



60 80 



STANDARD LENGTH ( n 



FIGTRE 2 —Standard length-weight relationship for 250 

 bandtail puffers from Biscayne Bay, Fla Functional regression 

 parameters derived by least squares fit to log transformed data, 

 where variance about regression was S, ,^ = 0.0018. 



20 r 



Hn 



n n 



n n 



n r-1 n ,-, CL_ 



n n n „ n n- 



n n n n 



n II n 



nn nnn 



nnnnn 



SIZE CLASS (n 



Figure 3.— Monthly standard length-frequency distributions 

 for checkered puffers from Biscayne Bay, Fla , during 1974 



293 



