Calculated I c'nj.\t hs-at -aj-.t.' were iiscfl to estimate the von lier t;i ! an f i y 

 growth parameters (Table 10; Fig. 7) . The growth models Tor females and 



Table 10. Th« von Serf laaffy Rrowth pmrammimTt tor Mlantic llv«r 



flottodT »aA co»pTl» 



Hlantlc River 

 Charleatom Pond 

 South of Cap* Cod^ 

 North of Cape Cod^ 

 Georges Bank 

 C«OTgca Baok 



Sjisil 



«.51 



0.t6-0.J6 0.90 



Nisntlc Blver . 

 Chsrltatovn Pond 

 Soucri of Cape Cod^ 

 Georges Bank 

 Georges Bank 



lU 



119.3 

 197.6 

 203.5 



0.39-0.53 0.85 



•^ - K a L» (Calluccl and Qulnn 1979) 

 Berry at al. (1965); paraaeter C calculated fri 

 Howe and Coatea (1975); paraaeter t calculated 

 Lua (1973) 



ma]es had good f ii:s (n=917, R^=0.90; n=764, R^=0.85) and represented 

 theoretical growth of tlie population. The oj parameter was used for 

 statistical comparisons of growth as suggested by Gallucci and Quinn 

 (1979). Their graphical procedure was applied to Niantic River fish and 

 showed significant differences between the sexes (Fig. 8); it was not 

 possible to make comparisons with other winter flounder populations 

 because of the lack of published estimates of variability. However, the< 

 parameter of female Niantic River winter flounder was similar to those 

 of other stocks or geogrfiphical groups examined with the exception of 

 Georges Bank, which has a racially distinct population with much faster 

 growth (Lux 1973; Howe and Coates 1975). The value for males most 

 closely corresponded to the Charlestown Pond stock (Berry et al. 1965); 

 greater asymptotic maximum length was achieved by winter flounder stocks 

 in other areas to the east . 



The estimates of L°° were actually less than the lengths of some 

 specimens examined from the Niantic River. However, this should not be 

 considered unusal and was also reported by Lux (1973). This could have 

 been a result of the sample used and the addition of larger and older 

 specimens could have altered the curve upwards. Nevertheless, since 

 1977 only 1% each of more than 8,330 female and 5,331 male winter 

 flounder larger than 20 cm exceeded the calculated asymptotic maximum 

 lengths. Thus, the parameters should be adequate for use in our winter 

 flounder population dynamics model which is currently under development. 



26 



