Clardy et al : Life history of Menticirrhus americanus and other sciaenids 
193 
Conclusions 
We examined the somatic and reproductive life-history 
characteristics of Southern Kingfish and described how 
the parameters in this multivariate set relate to the 
parameters of other species of Sciaenidae that are en- 
countered by recreational and commercial fisheries in 
the continental United States. This study shows that 
Southern Kingfish is a generally short-lived, early ma- 
turing fish with a longer spawning season than that 
of other Sciaenidae and that it exhibits significant 
sex-specific differences in somatic characteristics. The 
multivariate analysis that we used in this study also 
indicates that relationships of demographic character- 
istics within this family are complex. Such complexity 
is mediated by both evolutionary and ecological pro- 
cesses. Our inventory of life-history characteristics of 
sciaenid species indicates a number of gaps in avail- 
able data. Demographic data that are missing or that 
are collected and reported but that are not sex specific 
may, to some extent, compromise the use of among- 
population comparisons. 
Acknowledgments 
We thank R. Fulford, G. Gray, C. Rakocinski, D. Gra- 
ham, M. Simmons, L. Bosarge, M. Carley, S. Yuratich, S. 
Tally, R. Hendon, and J. Anderson for their assistance 
with this research. We also thank D. McDowell, Geor- 
gia Department of Natural Resources, and E. Robillard, 
National Marine Fisheries Service, for supplying data 
on Southern Kingfish from the South Atlantic Bight. 
This research was conducted under the University of 
Southern Mississippi’s Institutional Animal Care and 
Use Committee protocol no. 08091801. 
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