FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 84, NO. 1 



different from zero. There was no apparent seasonal 

 size segregation evident as in Nezumia bairdii, but 

 the graph of numerical abundance against depth also 

 indicated a general seasonal movement down slope 

 in September (Fig. 14). Similar seasonal movements 

 have been shown by Savvatimskii (1971) off 

 Newfoundland. 



Females may be mature from about 104 mm HL 

 and males from 71 mm HL (Fig. 15). 



Podrazhanskaya (1971) supported Zarkharov and 

 Mokanu's (1970) theory that C. rupestris spawns in 

 Icelandic waters. She stated that C. rupestris spawn 

 near Iceland and the Irminger Current could 

 transport the eggs and larvae to Greenland. From 

 Greenland the western branch of the West Green- 

 land Current would transport larvae to Baffin Island 

 where the Labrador Current would move the fish 

 down to the Newfoundland banks. When the fish in 

 the Newfoundland area attain a size of 40-50 cm total 

 length (TL), they start to migrate back to Iceland. 

 Podrazhanskaya gave the modal lengths for C. 

 rupestris in each area. The smallest fish (modal TL 

 of 45-47 cm) were found on the Northern Newfound- 

 land bank and the largest (modal TL of 98-100 cm) 

 were found around Iceland. Fish from between Baf- 

 fin Island and West Greenland had modal lengths 



200 

 400- 

 600 

 800 

 1 000-1 



1200 



1400- 



1600 



1800 



2000- 



2200- 



2400- 

 2600- 

 2800- 

 3000 



LOO 

 I I > 



JAN. 



JUNE 



NOV. 



SEPT. 



Coryphaenoides rupestris 

 abundance - log(**« I ) 



FIGURE 14.— Diagram of depth plotted against the log transform- 

 ed (log (s + 1)) numerical abundance, by cruise, for Coryphaenoides 

 rupestris. 



of 60-62 and 78-80 cm, respectively. Podrazhanskaya's 

 (1971) modal-length data for each area in conjunc- 

 tion with Savvatimskii's (1971) age and growth data 

 reveal that the modal-length fish off the Newfound- 

 land banks are about 6 yr old, off Baffin Island they 

 are 9-10 yr, around Greenland they are 15-16 yr, and 

 at Iceland they are over 20 yr. If a spawning migra- 

 tion occurs, it does not preclude spawning by some 

 members of the population not undergoing migra- 

 tion, thereby accounting for the small percentage of 

 ripening fish to be found outside of their primary 

 spawning area. 



If Podrazhanskaya's migration theory is valid, some 

 interesting observations can be made First, the C. 

 rupestris found on the east coast of the United 

 States may be derived from the larvae that failed 

 to metamorphose by the time they reached the New- 

 foundland banks and continued to drift southwest. 

 The predominant currents move south and west from 

 Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras (Worthington 1964; 

 Webster 1969; Gatien 1976), thereby affording a 

 means of transport for unmetamorphosed larvae 

 (Wenner and Musick 1979). Additionally, the modal 

 length for the 7,011 C. rupestris caught in the Nor- 



Coryphaenoides rupestris 



3 - 



i- 



10 



a. 



EH 



4=h 



^B-\ 



I 6 



5 - 



2 - 



-«=E 



3H 



I I I I 





— i 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 i p i 



SO 60 70 80 90 100 MO 120 130 140 ISO 160 

 HEAOLENGTH 



FIGURE 15.— The gonadal maturity stages plotted against head 

 length for Coryphaenoides rupestris. 



50 



