Powell et al.: Growth, mortality, and hatchdate distributions for Cynoscion nebulosus 



149 



Cohort A 



Length = -8.84+0 8614 (Age) 



60 



40 



20 







20 



60 



40 



80 



100 



Cohort C 

 i Length = -6.32 + 0.8198 (Age) 

 ? = 0.90 



B0 | n = 55 



40 



20 







80 

 60 

 40 

 20 

 



80 

 60 

 40 

 20 

 



80 

 60 

 40 

 20 

 



Cohort D 



Length = -14 68 + 0.9783 (Age) 



r 2 = 0.80 



n = 69 



Cohort E 



Length = -6.95 + 0.8663 (Age) 



^ = 0.89 



n =99 



20 



40 



60 



Cohort F 



Length = -7.97 + 0.8209 (Age) 



r = 0.86 



n = 50 



Age (days) 



Figure 5 



Comparison of growth in standard length among six spotted seatrout (Cynoscion 

 nebulosus) cohorts collected in 1995. See text for cohort hatchdates. 



ity rates appeared relatively low compared to the overall 

 mortality rate (0.0585) for juveniles (Table 5). However, 

 differences in mortality rates among these three cohorts 

 were not significant (F 4 . ;i =1.414). There were no significant 

 differences in weight-specific coefficients among the three 

 cohorts (B, D, and F) (Table 4), but a significant difference 

 in length-specific coefficients among the three cohorts was 

 found (Table 3). Cohort B (May) had a significantly higher 

 growth rate than the other two cohorts. 



There was a close relationship between otolith radius and 

 body length (Fig. 9). A linear equation with the sagittal ven- 

 tral radius, had a similar r 2 as a curvilinear equation with 

 the sagittal dorsal radius. However, we were unable to mea- 

 sure increment widths along this plane and instead used a 

 combination of a ventral path and a ventral medial path. 



As an initial demonstration that otolith increment width 

 increased with age along the 1-21 increment measuring 

 path and decreased along the 22-60 increment path, simpli- 



