444 



Fishery Bulletin 94(3). 1996 



Figure 1 



Transverse section from a 19-year-old (641-mm-FL) bonefish, Albula rulpes, otolith 

 viewed with reflected light showing the annuli counted for age estimation. Measure- 

 ments for marginal-increment analysis were made along an axis extending from the 

 otolith core (c) to the ventral margin (vm) of the section. Scale bar = 1 mm. 



tion experiments (Table 1). After capture, fish were 

 measured for fork length and tagged with dart-type 

 tags. Bonefish were then injected with Liquamycin 

 LA-200 (200-mg oxytetracycline [OTC]/mD in the 

 dorsal musculature at a dosage of 100-mg OTC per 

 kg fish weight. Fish weight was estimated with a 

 length-weight regression. Bonefish were then trans- 

 ported to a 33.5-m by 5.5-m by 0.75-m deep pond at 

 the Keys Marine Laboratory in Long Key, where they 

 were held for 14 to 29 months. Water at ambient tem- 



peratures was pumped continuously from Florida 

 Bay through the pond. Fish were fed at least three 

 times a week with as much frozen fish or shrimp as 

 they would consume. Sections from OTC-marked 

 otoliths were examined with a compound microscope 

 (40-100x) equipped with ultraviolet light so that the 

 fluorescent OTC marks could be detected. 



The von Bertalanffy ( 1957) growth equation FL t = 

 LJil-e~ Klt ~ to) ) was fitted to observed age-length data 

 with nonlinear regression procedures. Likelihood- 



