258 
Fishery Bulletin 99(2) 
Table 1 
Parameters and associated statistics for weight-length relationships of gray snapper by area and sex. SE = standard error; MSE = 
mean squared error. 
Parameter (SE) 
North Florida 
South Florida 
Areas pooled 
Males 
Females 
a 
8.4 x 1(L 9 
5.45 x 10 - 9 
7.22 x 10- 9 
7.13 x 10- 9 
6.95 x 10- 9 
(SE) 
(6.25 x 10- 10 ) 
(2.76 x 10“ 10 ) 
(2.8 x 10 ±10 ) 
(1.26 x 10- 9 ) 
(1.88 x 10 9 ) 
b 
3.08 
3.15 
3.11 
3.106 
3.097 
(SE) 
(0.012) 
(0.008) 
(0.006) 
(0.029) 
(0.041) 
n 
4034 
6670 
10,704 
262 
212 
MSE 
0.078 
0.020 
0.042 
0.019 
0.034 
Table 2 
Mean observed total lengths at age of gray snapper by 
area. 
Age (yr) 
North Florida 
South Florida 
n 
Mean T1 ±SE (mm) 
Range (mm) 
n 
Mean TL ±SE (mm) 
Range (mm) 
1 
13 
218 ±24 
181-255 
— 
2 
7 
220 ±24 
185-257 
20 
284 ±36 
167-327 
3 
17 
347 ±43 
212-415 
138 
302 ±33 
182-397 
4 
69 
388 ±42 
307-505 
260 
325 ±29 
231-447 
5 
138 
432 ±42 
332-555 
177 
358 ±45 
265-525 
6 
75 
467 ±46 
347-565 
81 
397 ±60 
300-644 
7 
71 
525 ±43 
370-615 
32 
474 ±46 
390-578 
8 
26 
549 ±40 
480-615 
11 
468 ±60 
342-542 
9 
36 
589 ±42 
525-702 
3 
417 ±141 
330-581 
10 
23 
595 ±31 
537-657 
3 
414 ±86 
317-481 
11 
14 
608 ±32 
545-645 
1 
452 
12 
9 
623 ±30 
580-685 
— 
13 
8 
660 ±35 
600-705 
2 
501 ±166 
383-618 
14 
7 
652 ±43 
600-725 
— 
15 
3 
682 ±34 
660-722 
1 
504 
504-504 
16 
1 
677 
17 
1 
635 
18 
2 
649 ±68 
600-697 
19 
1 
707 
20 
1 
630 
21 
2 
710 ±25 
692-727 
22 
— 
23 
2 
748 ±18 
735-760 
24 
2 
740 ±28 
720-760 
Growth 
Mean observed lengths at age were larger for fish from 
north Florida than those for fish from south Florida for 
all ages except age 2 (Table 2), but sample size may have 
affected estimates for age-2 fish. North Florida fish ranged 
from 181 mm at age 1 to 760 mm at age 24. South Florida 
fish ranged from 167 mm TL at age 2 to 618 mm at age 
13. The oldest fish from south Florida was age 15 and 
measured 504 mm. Age-1 fish were difficult to acquire 
in south Florida because of minimum-size catch regula- 
tions (305 mm TL in federal waters, and 250 mm TL in 
Florida waters). All age-1 fish from north Florida were 
collected through fishery-independent hook-and-line sam- 
pling. In both areas, most fish attain the federal minimum 
size limit (305 mm TL) by age 3. 
