690 
Fishery Bulletin 95(4), 1 997 
Age (A, B) 
Figure 13 
Catch curves for A. lineatus in the combined 1994- 
95 fishery, based on length-converted ages deter- 
mined (A) graphically from the weighted age-length 
relationship, and (B) using VBGF parameters for 
adult fish (Pauly, 1983). Graph axes and Z values: 
(A) Ln (AO x estimated age, Z=0.23, r 2 =0.98; (B) Ln 
( N/dt ) x relative age, Z=0.24, r 2 =0.95 (where N is 
the number of fish in a given length class and dt is 
the time taken to grow through that length class). 
( 1996) also monitored the same marked fish described 
in the present study and reported that an additional 
22% of the adults changed territories to nearby loca- 
tions and were relocated ( for the purpose of calculat- 
ing mortality, these fish were not of course consid- 
ered deaths). Altogether then, about 60% of the adults 
changed territories at some point during the 3-year 
period of observation. This analysis is not thought 
to be complicated by the loss of fish due to fishing 
mortality (F), because the 20% mortality rate incor- 
porated F. Further, Afao was a lightly fished area 
(senior author, unpubl. data). 
Emigration probably also accounted for the loss of 
many juveniles and newly settled recruits shown in 
Figure 12. Although the annual input of recruits to 
the reef was high, the observed “survival” rate of these 
fish during their first year ( 1%) could not maintain the 
standing stock of adult fish. To illustrate, the adult 
density of 40 fish/100m 2 (Craig, 1996 ) would lose 8 fish/ 
100m 2 per year at an annual loss of 20%. To replace 
those fish with newly settled fish (with an annual in- 
put rate of 100 recruits/ 100m 2 per year), a survival rate 
of 8% would be required during their first year. 
Growth pattern 
The rapid growth of young A. lineatus was so pro- 
nounced that initial VBGF analyses produced age- 
Length-converted age (yr) 
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 
Fork length (cm) 
Figure 14 
Length-converted age frequency of the 1994-95 fish- 
ery (top) and a comparison of length frequencies of 
A. lineatus in the 1987-88 and 1994-95 fisheries 
(bottom). 
dependent estimates of L to and K. The fish attained 
most of their adult size during their first year, even 
though the species was long-lived. There is increas- 
ing evidence that this growth pattern is common 
among coral reef fishes (Choat and Axe, 1996; Hart 
and Russ, 1996; Newman et al., 1996; Williams et 
al. 7 ). Standard applications of growth models may 
be inappropriate for populations exhibiting these 
growth characteristics. Use of a two-phase von 
Bertalanffy growth curve (e.g. Soriano et al., 1992; 
Ross et al., 1995) is a possible solution, although care 
must be taken to establish consistent procedures for 
separating the two phases of the curve. 
7 Williams, D., S. Newman, M. Cappo, and P. Doherty. 
1995. Recent advances in the ageing of coral reef fishes. Work- 
shop on management of South Pacific Inshore Fisheries, New 
Caledonia, 26 June-7 July 1995. Joint Forum Fisheries 
Agency — South Pacific Comm., Biol. Paper 74, 5 p. 
