STEPIEN: LIFE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF KELPFISH 

 MEAN MOUTH WIDTH AND MAXIMUM PREY WIDTH 

 10 r 



E 

 E 



5 



N* 15 

 N (ea. sample)  3 



12 3 4 



Age (Weeks) 



Figure 6.— Mean mouth width and maximum prey width 

 consumed by laboratory-reared giant kelpfish larvae 0-4 

 wk old. N = 15 (N each sample = 3). 



having several "checks" (false rings). Maximum age 

 reached by laboratory-reared kelpfish in these ex- 

 periments was 9 mo, at which time they succumbed 

 to a bacterial infection. 



Weight versus length of juvenile and adult kelp- 

 fish was exponentially related (Fig. 9), and SL and 

 TL were directly linearly related (Fig. 10). Length 

 versus age determinations also followed an exponen- 

 tial curve (Fig. 11). Sexual maturity occurred at a 

 mean size of 18.6 cm TL and an age of 1-1.5 yr. 



Regressions of sizes of adult males and adult 

 females on age class were found to be significantly 

 different using ANCOVA (see Fig. 11 legend). When 

 sizes at given ages were compared using £-tests, 

 females were found to be significantly larger than 

 males at given ages past 2 yr (Fig. 12). The largest 

 males sampled in this study were not older than 3 

 yr or larger than 28 cm TL. In contrast, large 

 females, reaching ages of 4.5 yr and sizes of 42 cm 

 (TL) were collected. Larger individuals collected 

 throughout the 5-yr sampling regime were consis- 

 tently females. 



Population Structure 



Seasonal size class structure of the giant kelpfish 

 population was consistent over 2 yr of regular sam- 



STANDARD LENGTH (SL) VS. TOTAL LENGTH (TL) 

 OF KELPFISH LARVAE 



30r- 



10 



14 



18 22 



Total Length (mm) 



26 



34 



Figure 7.— SL (mm) versus TL (mm) of laboratory-reared giant kelpfish larvae 0-30 d old. * = 

 one fish. N = 108. Regression equation: SL = 0.598 + 0.819 (TL). F = 11,588.62, P < 0.00001. 



819 



