NOTE Pierce et al.: Age and growth of Horengula jaguona in Florida waters 
203 
Table 1 
Length-length, weight-length, and otolith radius-fish length least-squares linear regressions of H. jaguana from off West Palm 
Beach and Tampa Bay, Florida. Two standard errors of the parameters are in parentheses. The length-length and pooled weight- 
length data include immature-size fish. TL = total length (mm); FL = fork length (mm); SL = standard length (mm); Log 10 (WT) = 
transformed total fish weight (g); Log 10 (FL) = transformed fork length (mm); OR = median otolith radius (mm) from the core to the 
ventral edge of the sulcus; Range = range of fork lengths (TL was used for TL vs. SL) included in regression relationships. 
Y=a +bX 
7 
X 
n 
Range 
a 
b 
r 2 
West Palm Beach 
SL 
FL 
682 
34-166 
-1.412 (0.1294) 
0.964(0.0013) 
0.9987 
FL 
SL 
682 
34-166 
1.581 (0.1321) 
1.035 (0.0014) 
0.9987 
TL 
FL 
822 
34-172 
-2.116(0.2521) 
1.191 (0.0024) 
0.9964 
FL 
TL 
822 
34-172 
2.108 (0.2073) 
0.836 (0.0017) 
0.9964 
TL 
SL 
676 
30-172 
-0.002 (0.3288) 
1.231 (0.0035) 
0.9944 
SL 
TL 
676 
30-172 
0.489 (0.2656) 
0.807 (0.0023) 
0.9944 
Log 10 (WT) (females) 
Log 10 (FL) 
195 
91-166 
-5.104 (0.202) 
3.172 (0.095) 
0.9578 
Log 10 (WT) (males) 
Log 10 (FL) 
169 
84-161 
-4.956 (0.194) 
3.105 (0.091) 
0.9647 
Log 10 (WT) (pooled) 
Log 10 (FL) 
987 
45-166 
-5.138 (0.024) 
3.187 (0.012) 
0.9961 
OR (females) 
FL 
22 
91-166 
-0.116 (0.098) 
0.004(0.0007) 
0.8666 
OR (males) 
FL 
22 
98-161 
-0.218(0.113) 
0.005 (0.0008) 
0.8792 
Tampa Bay 
SL 
FL 
1482 
30-151 
-1.140 (0.1136) 
0.960 (0.0011) 
0.9979 
FL 
SL 
1482 
30-151 
1.382 (0.1166) 
1.038 (0.0012) 
0.9979 
TL 
FL 
1475 
30-151 
-2.357 (0.1399) 
1.281 (0.0014) 
0.9980 
FL 
TL 
1475 
30-151 
2.152 (0.1141) 
0.831 (0.0009) 
0.9980 
TL 
SL 
1473 
34-178 
0.881 (0.1382) 
0.799 (0.0011) 
0.9968 
SL 
TL 
1473 
34-178 
-0.742(0.1739) 
1.247 (0.0018) 
0.9968 
Log 10 (WT) (females) 
Log 10 (FL) 
1742 
74-151 
-5.048 (0.056) 
3.144 (0.027) 
0.9678 
Log ln (WT) (males) 
Log ln (FL) 
1300 
77-145 
-4.983 (0.062) 
3.114 (0.015) 
0.9693 
Log 10 (WT) (pooled) 
Log 10 (FL) 
10,219 
28-151 
-5.088(0.011) 
3.163(0.006) 
0.9905 
OR (females) 
FL 
84 
76-146 
-0.106(0.055) 
0.004 (0.0005) 
0.8418 
OR (males) 
FL 
73 
77-145 
-0.101 (0.064) 
0.004 (0.0005) 
0.8133 
temperatures of 26-28°C and a salinity of 30-3 l%c with an 
average photoperiod of 10 h/day. Fish were fed twice daily 
a combination of Tetramin® flake food and frozen brine 
shrimp. Fish were injected in the dorsal musculature with 
0.05 mL of 0.06-mg oxytetracycline (OTC) solution/g body 
weight on 30 October, 14 November, and 6 December. Fish 
were sacrificed 7 days following the second (n= 50) and 
third (n= 30) injections. Otoliths were prepared and pol- 
ished as previously described, examined with a combina- 
tion of transmitted and incident ultraviolet light to fluo- 
resce the OTC marks, and number of increments between 
all OTC marks were counted. 
Forty transverse sections aged with the light microscope 
were also examined with a scanning electron microscope 
(SEM). Sagittae of unknown ages were selected by fish- 
size category and the quality of the section (i.e. core was 
on the surface of the section and there were no apparent 
large cracks) from those prepared for age analysis. The 
sections were etched with 0.12 N HC1 for 1-5 seconds. Mi- 
crographs were read by using the same procedures and ac- 
ceptance criteria described above. A paired sample f-test 
(Zar, 1996) was used to determine if the difference (d=X lt - 
X.,) between the light and SEM counts was significantly 
different from zero. 
Harengula jaguana growth rates were estimated from 
the aged sagittae and compared with modal analysis of 
length frequencies. For each coast, sex-specific growth 
rates were estimated by using the least-squares linear re- 
gression of age on FL. Analysis of covariance was used 
to compare growth rates between sexes. The data were 
pooled if there were no significant differences, and pooled 
growth rates were compared for Florida’s coasts by analy- 
sis of covariance. Cohort modal groups were assigned an 
approximate spawning month based upon estimated ages 
from the sagittae samples representative of the mode. The 
difference of the mean lengths between the largest and 
smallest modes from the same spawning month divided by 
the number of days between the two modes was defined as 
the modal growth. All statistical analyses were made with 
SAS software (SAS Institute Inc., 1989). 
