314 



Fishery Bulletin 102(2) 



12000 r 

 10000 



8000 - 



6000 



4000 - 



2000 

 



Hrr- 



60 



\f^H^. 



-H-++ 



80 



T" 



t 



~T 



100 120 



Dorsal mantle length (mm) 



— I — 

 140 



160 



0.0 



6000 



5000 



4000 



3000 - 



2000 



1000 



0.8 



0.2 0.4 0.6 



Major axis diameter (mm) ot smallest oocyte 





1.0 



0.3 



0.4 



0.5 



— r~ 



0.6 



-I 1 - 



0.7 



"i r 



0.8 



— I r 



0.9 



1.0 



Mantle condition index (mg/mm 2 ) 



O Immature * Mature preovulatory + Mature spawning a Diver caught 



Figure 7 



The number of oocytes in ovaries of 98 Loligo opalescens as a function of 

 dorsal mantle length (A) and the diameter of the major axis of the smallest 

 oocyte (Bl. In (C), the number of oocytes is plotted as a function of mantle 

 condition index (the dry weight per surface area of a mantle tissue disci for 

 87 mature females (4 discs were lost and the 7 immature were not included I. 

 Line in A expresses potential fecundity as a function of length (£^=29.8/,) 

 for the 13 mature preovulatory females (solid circles); open circles represent 

 immature females; plus signs represent spawning females; and the triangle 

 represents a dying mature female. 



E R = 30283e' _1 24W  B 19( '- 0.024i + 0.059LC) 



where C = mantle condition index; 



D = size of the smallest oocyte; and 

 L = dorsal mantle length. 



(16) Substituting into the model (Fig. 8) the maximum ob- 



served D (0.771 mm) and the minimum observed C (0.323 

 mg/mm 2 ) from our research survey data set, we estimated 

 that a female L. opalescens with L of 129 mm may have 

 a minimum residual fecundity of 834 oocytes (CV=0.12). 



