Delgado et al.: Translocation of Strombus gigas as a strategy to rehabilitate the Florida Keys conch population 283 



Females 



100 



80 • 



60 



40 



20 

 100 



80 



60 



40 



20 • 

 100 



80 



60 



40 



20 

 



A« 



6^ J 





Males 



<8 



6 B s" i 



c 5- 9 d? ■& 



resident nearshore 

 resident offshore 



Figure 3 



Gonadal maturity of resident nearshore and resident offshore queen conch (Strom- 

 bus gigas) by sex and season. The dotted line separates the categories that were 

 combined for statistical analyses. 



conch were markedly different at the beginning of the 

 study (Fig. 2. A and B). There were significant differences 

 in gonadal maturity between resident offshore and resi- 

 dent nearshore female conch during the spring, summer, 

 and fall (Table 4). During the spring, the gonads of most 

 resident offshore females were categorized as being in 

 late development; by summer most were ripe and by fall 

 most were either spent, in atresia, or regressed (Fig. 3). In 

 contrast, the gonads of most resident nearshore females 

 contained no germ cells during the spring (Fig. 3). By 

 summer, the gonads of some resident nearshore females 

 were found to be in the early stages of development, but 

 most females were still incapable of spawning, and by fall, 

 all the resident nearshore females sampled were incapable 

 of spawning (Fig. 3). There were also significant differ- 

 ences in the percentage of gametogenic tissue between 

 resident offshore and resident nearshore females during 

 the spring, summer, and fall (Table 4). The gonads of most 

 resident offshore females contained >75% gametogenic 

 tissue throughout the study period, whereas those of most 

 resident nearshore females had <25% (Fig. 4). 



The gonadal condition of translocated nearshore females 

 (Fig. 2C) improved when compared with the gonadal 

 condition of resident nearshore females (Fig. 2A). There 

 were significant differences in gonadal maturity between 



translocated nearshore and resident nearshore females 

 during both the summer and fall (Table 5). There was 



