34 
Fishery Bulletin 1 13(1) 
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Figure 3 
Distributions of (A) age frequency and (B) length frequency, 
by fishing sector, for aging samples of gray triggerfish (Bcili- 
stes capriscus ) collected from the southeastern United States in 
1990 - 2012 . 
coast versus FL= 29.70+0.77 xL for the Gulf population 
(Johnson and Saloman, 1984). 
Gray triggerfish grew moderately fast, attaining an 
average observed size of 353 mm FL (14 in) by age 3 
(Table 2). This result compares favorably with the find- 
ing of Johnson and Saloman (1984) that gray trigger- 
fish from the Gulf of Mexico also grow moderately fast 
at earlier ages, attaining an average size of 357 mm FL 
by age 3, growing an average of an additional 50 mm 
per year through age 5, and averaging gains in growth 
of 15 mm per year at ages 6-13. Growth of fish in our 
study slowed after age 3, reaching 496 mm FL by age 
5, and then averaging annual size increment increases 
of 21 mm through age 10. 
Several previous studies have found that male gray 
triggerfish are substantially larger than female fish 
(Johnson and Saloman, 1984; Moore, 2001; Simmons 
and Szedlmayer, 2012). These findings justify the gen- 
eration of sex-specific growth curves if possible. Unfor- 
tunately, the specimens we used were collected under 
sampling protocols that did not allow for the collection 
of sex-specific data. We recommend that strategies to 
obtain these data would be beneficial in future studies, 
if possible. 
Because our aging structures came from specimens 
acquired exclusively from fishery-dependent sources 
and, therefore, may be more representative of the 
fished population than the whole population, we advise 
caution in interpretation of gray triggerfish growth 
curves, especially for the region of the curve that de- 
scribes the youngest ages. Minimum size regulations 
could have an effect on the size of fish available to 
