Bullock et al.: Age, growth, and reproduction of Epinephelus itajara 



245 



Figure 1 



Monthly mean marginal increment ratios for jewfish with 1-10 

 opaque marks on otolith sections. Vertical lines indicate range 

 of observations; sample size indicated by the number adjacent 

 to the mean (N 86). 



during April-August, we observed an opaque band at 

 the outer edge of the otoHth section and interpreted 

 this as the deposition of a new annulus. After August, 

 the mean marginal increment ratio- increased until 

 reaching a maximum during November- April. The 

 observed annual minimum in monthly mean marginal 

 increment ratios suggests that 

 opaque bands form once each year 

 in the otoliths of jewfish < 10 years 

 of age. The validity of age marks 

 was confirmed for two OTC-marked 

 jewfish. The OTC reference mark 

 was clearly evident on otoliths of 

 each of the two specimens. The 

 otolith of the 3-year-old jewfish that 

 had survived for 1 1 months in cap- 

 tivity contained a single annulus 

 distal to the OTC mark. This fish, 

 injected with OTC in November 



1990, had apparently deposited an 

 annulus prior to its death in October 



1991. Its total length and weight 

 were 505mmTL and 2.7kg. The 

 4-year-old specimen, injected with 

 OTC in October 1989 and sacrificed 

 in August 1991 after 22 months in 

 captivity (total length and weight 

 of ~735mmTL and 9kg), had de- 

 posited two annuli distal to the OTC 

 reference mark. 



A total of 481 jewfish were sam- 

 pled for life-history data. Age data 

 were determined for 382 individ- 

 uals. Age range was 3-26 years for 

 males {N 41), 0-37 for females (N 

 85), and 0-36 for fish of undeter- 

 mined sex (N 256). Total lengths of 

 jewfish sampled were 795-2057 mm 

 for males (N 75), 338-2155 mm for 

 females {N 131), and 75-2160mm 

 for fish of undetermined sex {N 275). 



Jewfish grow slowly relative to 

 their potential maximum size. An- 

 nual growth was most rapid (aver- 

 aging > 100 mm/year) through age 

 6, then declined to about 30 mm/ 

 year by age 15, and to less than 

 10 mm/year after age 25 (Table 1, 



