60 U. S. BUREAU ‘OF FISHERIES 
group but a relatively small percentage are mature females, but that 
the III-group is composed chiefly of mature females in July. From 
the appearance of the frequency curve it seems that there are but 
few of the older year classes present in the sounds; hence the future 
supply must depend chiefly upon the spawning of the 3-year-old fish. 
This condition differs from that reported by Welsh and Breder at 
Cape May, N. J., where the majority of the spawning fish were from 
4 to 6 years old and the 5-year-old fish were the most numerous. 


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PERCENTAGE 








{6 18 20 | 22 24 26 28 302 34 
CM. LeneTH 8 10° 12 
Fic. 15.—Relative maturity of female gray trout in Pamlico Sound, N.C., in July, 1925. 
The heavy curve rising from 0 to 100 represents the number of mature females occurring 
at any size, expressed in per cents of the total number of fishat thatsize. Thelength frequency 
curve of both males and females combined is superimposed. These data indicate that the 
Il-group (fish in their third year) are largely immature, while of the IIJ-group nearly all 
are mature, and that the fish larger than 27 centimeters in length are all mature females. 
TABLE 15.—Percentage of mature female gray trout occurring at any size in pound- 
net catches, Pamlico Sound, N. C., July, 1925 } 








| 
: Ports- Brant Gull Point of 
Length, centimeters Lupton ath Tad ie yaa Warsh | Average 
(MEL he RB AE Sy eee eee Nee Ree ee MOO RD 8 LSS 2 pe | Set 2S bg T 0 0} | eee | 0 
lee. Se oo a ea ee Q xis) soe a ae 0 0,4 Sasa eee aes | 0 
Wt ea pagan Seale Ce RR ES Sea a ey Qa) |e eee Aa 0 0a) 3 ee 0 
Dee es cone wee ee. keke oS 2 ee 0 0 0 ub Cp Eo Pees Aa 2.8 
WAL Dk se Cia) oe es. See aan eae 8.9 40.0 3.5 23. 6 0 | 15.1 
ee Be Sd ee ee ee ee et 11.0 30.8 5.7 26. 7 Or 14.8 
pS TLE ENE ae ee ne a, ene ee 11.0 538. 4 13.1 33. 7 5.6 | 24.4 
77: SR ELS Se ee ee 29.6 80. 0 46.7 51.0 35.3 | 58. 5 
a. ae ees eet ete Sleeess ee bend 64.4 100. 0 91.7 86.3 66.7 81.8 
ald eae ae a 8 ip eo ane pe le 90. 8 100. 0 100. 0 94.9 100.0. 97.1 
U( ae 9 BAS oT) FS ee eee De eae el eee 100.0 100. 0 100. 0 100. 0 100.0. 100.0 
Pah Te? Sn et TN i es a 100. 0 100. 0 100. 0 100. 0 100.0 | 100.0 
l | 1 

1 Because of the difficulty (under the conditions obtaining in the field) experienced in determining the 
sex of the younger immature individuals, the percentage of mature females is calculated on the basis of the 
frequency of both males and females together. 
ee LL —— el ee 
