TABLE 8. — Length frequencies of males and females in samples from purse-seine catches, 1957 



weight than in length as the fish grow 

 older; sexual dimorphism referred to 

 earlier in this section; the simul- 

 taneous occurrence in the catches of 

 both sexually maturing and spawned- 

 out fish; variations in feeding con- 

 ditions; a mixing in northern waters of 

 faster-growing, younger fish with older 

 fish whose growth in length has di- 

 nninished, etc. 



Fish weights in the North Carolina 

 fall fishery formed two separate 

 curves, one ranging to roughly 180 g. 

 and the second from 330 to 790 g. 

 The first curve shows two equally 

 prominent peaks, one at 10 and the 

 other at 40 g. From appendix table 10 



it may be seen that young-of-the-year 

 fish (age-0) accounted for the greatest 

 proportion of the first curve. It is of 

 interest to note that the heavier fish 

 in this age group (20 to 110 g.) were 

 represented in the catch samples 

 through most of December, whereas 

 the lighter fish of this age (0-20 g.) 

 did not appear in the catches until 

 late December and subsequently formed 

 the greatest portion of the catch. The 

 second curve in the North Carolina 

 weight distribution shows a mode at 

 560 g. and except for the absence of 

 fish in the extreme weight classes, is 

 of the same general asymmetric shape 

 as that depicting the North Atlantic 

 summer catch. 



14 



