460 
Fishery Bulletin 95(3), 1997 
0 > 200 400 600 800 0 5 10 15 
03 
C 
Fork length (mm) 
Age (yr) 
Figure 2 
Length-maturity and age-maturity relations for male and female bonefish, Albula vulpes. Lengths 
plotted are the midpoints of 10-mm size classes. The solid line represents the predicted relation 
from the logistic regressions presented in Table 1. M 50 is the length or age predicted by the 
logistic regression at which 50% of the bonefish were sexually mature. 
Fecundity 
Bonefish total fecundity estimates ranged from 0.4 to 
1.7 million oocytes and had a significant positive rela- 
tion to fish weight (Table 1; Fig. 7). Relative fecundity 
(the number of oocytes per gram fish weight) ranged 
from 159 to 385 oocytes/g (mean=259 oocytes/g, 
SD=47.1, n=33) for fish ranging in length from 485 
to 702 mm. There was no significant relation between 
relative fecundity and fish length (rc=33, r 2 =0.014, 
P=0.514 ) or weight (n=33, r 2 =0.043, P=0.247), but 
there was a significant positive relation between rela- 
tive fecundity and age (n= 32, r 2 =0.248, P=0.003). 
Oocyte development among areas within the ovary 
was homogeneous. We used a two-factor analysis of 
variance to compare oocyte densities with side (right 
or left) and position (anterior, middle, or posterior 
section of the ovary) as the effects. The number of 
late vitellogenic oocytes per gram of wet ovary weight 
was not significantly different between left and right 
ovaries (ANOVA, df=l, P=0.648) or among sub- 
samples from anterior, middle, or posterior sections 
of the ovary (ANOVA, df=2, P=Q. 709). Furthermore, 
we found no significant interaction between side and 
position from which subsamples were taken (ANOVA, 
df=2, P=0.702). Weights of left and right ovaries from 
sexually mature females were not significantly dif- 
ferent (paired £-test, n=112, £=0.480, P=0.632), but right 
testes from sexually mature males were significantly 
larger than left testes (mean difference=9. 1 g, 
SD=18.62; paired £-test, n- 98, £=4.826, PcO.OOl). 
Discussion 
Length and age at sexual maturity 
The bonefish we examined reached sexual maturity at 
an older age and larger size than reported by Bruger 
( 1974). He reported sexually mature females that were 
1 year old and ranged from 221 to 352 mm FL (re- 
ported as 210 to 338 mm standard length). Bruger 
considered these small bonefish to be sexually ma- 
ture on the basis of the presence of vitellogenic oo- 
cytes, one of the criteria that we used. He did not 
report how many of these small sexually mature fe- 
