472 



AbStraCt.-Kelp bass, Paralabrax 

 clathratus, and barred sand bass, P. 

 nebulifer, are major components of the 

 nearshore marine environment in the 

 southern California Bight. Both species 

 are also very important parts of the 

 marine recreational fishery. Surveys at 

 King Harbor, Redondo Beach, Califor- 

 nia, have shown that kelp bass prima- 

 rily recruit between August and Decem- 

 ber. In general, both kelp bass and 

 barred sand bass numbers increased in 

 King Harbor beginning in the late 

 1970s and continuing into the 1980's. 

 Male and female kelp bass and barred 

 sand bass grow at the same rates, and 

 growth rates of both species are simi- 

 lar. The oldest kelp bass in our sample 

 was 33 yr old, the oldest barred sand 

 bass was 24 yr old. For kelp bass, 50% 

 of males matured at 22.0 cm; for barred 

 sand bass, 50% of males matured at 

 21.9 cm. For kelp bass, 50"? of females 

 matured at 22.6 cm; for barred sand 

 bass, 50% of females matured at 23.9 

 cm. In both species, males matured be- 

 tween ages 2 and 4 years and females 

 matured between ages 2 and 5 years. 



Aspects of the life histories of the kelp 

 bass, Paralabrax clathratus, and barred 

 sand bass, P. nebulifer, from the 

 southern California Bight 



Milton S. Love 

 Andrew Brooks 



Marine Science Institute, University of California 

 Santa Barbara. California 93 1 06 



Diego Busatto 



California Department of Fish and Game 

 330 Golden Shore, Suite 50 

 Long Beach, California 90802 



John Stephens 



Vantuna Research Group, Occidental College 

 Los Angeles, California 9004 1 



Paul A. Gregory 



California Department of Fish and Game 

 330 Golden Shore, Suite 50 

 Long Beach, California 90802 



Manusript accepted 1 April (1996). 

 Fishery Bulletin 94:472-481 ( 1996l. 



Kelp bass, Paralabrax clathratus, 

 and barred sand bass, P. nebulifer, 

 are major components of the near- 

 shore marine environment in the 

 southern California Bight. 



Kelp bass grow to 72 cm total 

 length (TL) and occur between the 

 mouth of the Columbia River, Wash- 

 ington, and southern Baja Califor- 

 nia, most commonly from Point 

 Conception, California, southward 

 (Eschmeyer et al., 1983). Distrib- 

 uted from intertidal waters to 59 m 

 (Quast, 1968), most fishes live in 3- 

 25 m (Feder et al., 1974). Although 

 usually associated with substrata, 

 kelp bass will often rise into the 

 water column, well away from 

 structure. 



Barred sand bass reach 65 cm 

 (TL) and range from Santa Cruz, 

 central California, to southern Baja 

 California (abundant from Pt. Con- 

 ception southward). This species is 



distributed from subtidal water to 

 183 m (Eschmeyer et al., 1983). 

 Barred sand bass are benthic, rela- 

 tively sedentary fish which, in con- 

 trast to kelp bass, are rarely found 

 more than 3 m above the substra- 

 tum (Turner et al., 1969; Feder et 

 al., 1974; Larson and Demartini, 

 1984). 



Both species are very important 

 parts of the marine recreational 

 fisheries of southern California and 

 northern Baja California (Rodri- 

 guez Medrano, 1993; Ally et al. 1 ; 



Ally, J. R. R., D. S. Ono, R. B. Read, and 

 M. Wallace. 1991. Status of major 

 southern California marine sport fish spe- 

 cies with management recommendations, 

 based on analyses of catch and size com- 

 position data collected on board commer- 

 cial passenger fishing vessels from 1985 

 through 1987. Mar. Res. Div., Calif. De- 

 partment of Fish and Game, 330 Golden 

 Shore, Suite 50, Long Beach, CA, 90802. 

 Admin. Rep. 90-2. 376 p. 



