NOTE Murphy et al.: Direct validation of ages determined for Pogonias cromis 
385 
Figure 3 
A black drum otolith section shown under reflected light only (top) and 
under reflected light and ultraviolet light ( bottom ). Opaque bands are num- 
bered consecutively from the core, and the fluorescing oxytetracycline ( OTC ) 
band is indicated. This fish was tagged and injected in August 1993 and 
recaptured 941 days later in October 1995. 
in our sample. Beckman et al. 1 also 
noted the persistence of several large 
year classes (the 1979, 1974, 1970, and 
1966 year classes) in the purse-seine 
fishery catch in the northern Gulf of 
Mexico, during 1986-89, and Jones et 
al. (in press) noted that the exception- 
ally large 1942 and 1934 year classes 
were still prominent in 1990-92 samples 
collected from Chesapeake Bay fisher- 
ies. Observed sizes at age of black drum 
in our sample, when released, were 
620-732 mm TL for 3 year olds, 782- 
836 mm for 4 year olds, and 789-880 
mm for 6 year olds. These sizes at age 
were much larger than those predicted 
for northeast Florida black drum: 477, 
555, 625, and 687 mm TL for ages 3-6 
(Murphy and Taylor, 1989). Young red 
drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, and spotted 
seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, are also 
larger at age in the Indian River La- 
goon than in other areas of Florida 
(Murphy and Taylor, 1990, 1994). 
Limited tag-recapture information 
gathered during this study indicates 
that some larger black drum make ex- 
tensive migrations from the Indian 
River Lagoon system. Seven of the 9 
angler-recaptured, tagged black drum 
(none of whose otoliths were recovered) 
were caught in the northern Indian 
River Lagoon within 10 km of their re- 
lease site. Two fish (1,025 and 1,163 mm 
TL), however, tagged and released in 
February 1992 travelled about 1,370 km 
north to Chesapeake Bay, where they 
were captured by anglers in late May 
and early June. Although the reproduc- 
tive states of these two tagged fish were 
not recorded at release, many of the 
males tagged along with them were run- 
ning ripe. The fact that these fish moved 
to Chesapeake Bay during the time pe- 
riod when peak spawning progresses up 
the Atlantic coast may imply that black drum con- 
tinue spawning as they move northward during the 
spring. This migration would enable them to broad- 
cast their average annual fecundity of 32—45 million 
eggs (Fitzhugh et al., 1993; Nieland and Wilson, 1993) 
over a wide range of suitable egg and larval habitats. 
Extensive tagging studies in Florida during the 
early and mid- 1960’s showed that, except for some 
of those released on beaches, black drum hardly 
moved from a release site (Topp, 1963; Beaumariage, 
1964, 1969; Beaumariage and Wittich, 1966); even 
the greatest movement of fish along the beaches was 
less than 145 km. The total lengths of fish tagged 
during these studies were generally less than 500 mm. 
In Texas, Osburn and Matlock ( 1984) found substan- 
tial intrabay movement of small immature black 
drum, but little movement between bays. Music and 
Pafford (1984) also found that most black drum 
tagged in Georgia did not move far from the area of 
release. However, in Georgia 13% of all returned fish 
