Crabtree et al.: Reproduction of Albu la vulpes 
461 
males were captured or the typical length and age at 
sexual maturity. Some of the sexually mature females 
he collected were smaller than the 351-mm sexually 
mature female that we considered an outlier and 
excluded from our analysis. Furthermore, the lengths 
of Bruger’s fish were substantially shorter than our 
estimated length at 50% maturity for females (488 
mm). We also did not find any 1-year-old bonefish 
that were sexually mature; the youngest sexually 
mature fish we examined was 2 years old. All of the 
small mature females reported by Bruger were 
caught in deeper water (9.1-12.2 m) than that sur- 
veyed for bonefish in our sample; most of our fish 
were caught in water less than 2 m deep. Both Bruger 
(1974) and Crabtree et al. (1996) considered the pos- 
sible existence of a cryptic bonefish species in wa- 
ters off the Florida Keys as a potential explanation 
for the presence of exceptionally small and sexually 
mature bonefish, but additional study is needed to 
resolve this question. 
Little is known regarding bonefish maturation in 
other areas. Pfeiler et al. (1988) reported 12 Albula 
sp., ranging in length from 205 to 264 mm (SL) from 
the Gulf of California, that had ripe or ripening go- 
nads; this finding suggests a smaller length at sexual 
maturity there than we found in the Keys. Th e Albula 
