298 
Fishery Bulletin 109(3) 
Table 3 
Percentage of mature fish by age class for female vermilion snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens ), red porgy ( Pagrus pagrus), and 
scamp (Mycteroperca phenax ) by sublegal- and legal-size classification. All fish were examined histologically. (n)=number of fish 
in samples. 
Age (yr) 
Vermilion snapper 
Red 
porgy 
Scamp 
Sublegal size 
%(n) 
Legal size 
% (n) 
Sublegal size 
% ( n ) 
Legal size 
%(n) 
Sublegal size 
%(n) 
Legal size 
%(n) 
0 
22(9) 

100(1) 
100 (1) 


1 
52(31) 
100(9) 
67 (33) 
— 
— 
— 
2 
94 (94) 
100(22) 
97(119) 
100 (28) 
33 (3) 
— 
3 
100(71) 
100 (64) 
99 (161) 
100 (107) 
77 (44) 
50(2) 
4 
100 (74) 
100(106) 
98 (91) 
99(137) 
93 (178) 
100 (30) 
5 
100 (81) 
100 (109) 
94(53) 
100 (98) 
97 (156) 
100(73) 
6 
100(17) 
100 (47) 
100(15) 
100 (31) 
100 (44) 
98 (49) 
7 
100 (2) 
100 (13) 
100 (2) 
100 (10) 
100 (8) 
100(36) 
8 
100(2) 
100 (2) 
100(2) 
100 (4) 
100(1) 
100 (20) 
9 
— 
100 (4) 
— 
100(2) 
— 
100(11) 
10 
— 
100 (1) 
— 
— 
— 
100(13) 
11 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
100(13) 
12 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
100(5) 
milion sex ratio (generally 1:1) in the Gulf of Mexico 
was different from sex ratios found off the coast of 
the southeastern United States. Zhao and McGovern 
(1997) noted that traps caught more females than 
hook-and-line or trawl gear. All of our catches were 
from hook-and-line gear that was fished about 3 m 
off the bottom, rather than from on-bottom gear (e.g., 
traps). If vermilion snapper schools segregate by sex, 
with males higher in the water column, it is possible 
that the males would encounter the baited hooks first. 
The difference in sex ratios is of utmost concern be- 
cause it will have significant impact in fishery stock 
assessment models. Such a study as that performed by 
DeVries (2006), who looked at size- and sex-induced 
fish behavior bias, is needed to determine the cause of 
this difference and which sex ratio is more indicative 
of the population. 
Red porgy 
The 2006 SEDAR stock assessment of red porgy, a pro- 
togynous hermaphrodite, concluded that although this 
stock was not experiencing overfishing, it was overfished 
(SEDAR, 2006). A commercial 12 inch TL (307 mm FL) 
minimum size limit for red porgy was introduced in 
1992, but fishing mortality remained high from 1992 
through 1998, with F values between 0.44 and 0.75 
(SEDAR, 2006). In 1999, the minimum size limit was 
increased to a 14 inch TL (307 mm FL), a seasonal 
closure (from May to December) was instituted, as well 
as an emergency closure from September 1999 through 
August 2000. In late 2000, a commercial trip limit on 
catch (50 lb/trip) was established, and in 2006 this was 
modified to 120 fish/trip or a 127,000 lb gutted yearly 
quota. Since 2001, F has continued to decrease (F= 0.078 
in 2004) and spawning stock biomass has increased 
(SEDAR, 2006). 
Commercial fishermen are harvesting faster growing 
(young but large) fish. In our study the sublegal- and 
legal-size portions of the population had broad over- 
lapping age ranges, and mean ages differed by only 
one year. The age-frequency distributions for legal red 
porgy were left-skewed (skewness=1.5) and had a high 
peak (kurtosis=4.13) that indicated high fishing mor- 
tality occurring on ages four and five. Red porgy are a 
relatively long-lived species with a maximum age of 18 
years (Potts and Manooch, 2002), and yet red porgy 10 
years and older were <1% of the catch. Interestingly, the 
majority of all red porgy being captured are between 
ages three and five, indicating that there is a lack of not 
just large fish, but also old fish in the population. For a 
species known to live 18 years, these values indicate a 
considerable change in the population structure because 
many of the older fish have been removed. Comparison 
of von Bertalanffy curves (Fig. 4B) with those of previ- 
ous studies (Manooch and Huntsman, 1977; Harris and 
McGovern, 1997) show that current growth rates are 
greater than those in earlier time periods (1979-81 and 
1988-90). Interestingly, the asymptotic length is only 
20 mm higher than the minimum size limit. Maturity 
in red porgy in our study occurred as early as less than 
one year in both legal- and sublegal-size specimens, and 
by age one, over 60% of the sublegal-size specimens 
were considered mature, indicating that maturation is 
occurring at a young age and small size. This is con- 
sistent with the findings from Harris and McGovern 
(1997) and Hood and Johnson (2000) who also noted 
mature females at a small sizes and ages. Our age of 
100% female maturation, age six, was two years older 
than that reported in the Hood and Johnson (2000) 
