Colmertero et al.: Reproductive biology of Lophius budegassa in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea 
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Figure 1 
Map of study area where specimens of Black Anglerfish (Lophius budegassa) were collected in 
the northwestern Mediterranean Sea between June 2007 and December 2010 to examine the 
reproductive biology of this species. The zone shaded in light gray closest to the Catalan coast 
indicates the sampling area. The cities shown on the coast were the ports of commercial trawl 
fishery vessels from which specimens were collected. 
and Priede, 2005; Preciado et al., 2006), geographical 
and depth distribution (Caruso, 1985; Landa et al., 
2008b; Velasco et al., 2008), and reproduction (Afonso- 
Dias and Hislop, 1996; Duarte et al., 2001; Laurenson, 
2006). In the Mediterranean Sea, studies have been 
less numerous and for the most part have focused on 
biological aspects similar to the ones examined in the 
studies just described (Carlucci et al., 2009; Colme- 
nero et al., 2010; Garcfa-Rodriguez et al., 2005; La Mesa 
and De Rossi, 2008; Maravelias and Papaconstantinou, 
2003; Negzaoui-Garali and Ben Salem, 2008; Negzaoui- 
Garali et al., 2008; Tsimenidis, 1984; Tsimenidis and 
Ondrias, 1980; Ungaro et al., 2002). However, only Tsi- 
menidis (1980) and Carbonara et al. (2005) focused on 
reproductive traits of Black Anglerfish. 
Information about the duration of the spawning sea- 
son, fish size at first maturity, reproductive strategy, 
maturation of oocytes, and fecundity are very relevant 
for studies of the biology and population dynamics 
used in stock assessments for management of fishery 
resources. Of all these reproductive features, fecundi- 
ty is the most difficult biological parameter to obtain, 
although it is critical for accurate stock assessments 
(Trippel et al., 1997). In the peculiar case of species of 
Lophius, studies on fecundity are scarce because of the 
difficulty of 1) acquisition of suitably mature individu- 
als in the maturity phases of spawning capable or ac- 
tively spawning and 2) the use of a proper method for 
fecundity estimation, which is especially complicated 
because of the morphological features of the gonads of 
these species. During reproduction, a gelatinous mate- 
rial is secreted into the lumen, and enumeration and 
measurement of eggs embedded in this mucus matrix 
is extremely difficult. 
Although species of Lophius have similar traits 
throughout the world, some biological aspects and 
catch trends of fisheries present interspecific and spa- 
tial variations (Farina et al., 2008). For that reason, 
reproductive parameters of the Atlantic stock of Black 
Anglerfish cannot be applied to the stock in the Medi- 
terranean. In addition, knowledge of the reproductive 
biology of this species in the northwestern Mediterra- 
nean Sea is very limited. Therefore, our study is the 
first one to take a detailed approach to the examina- 
tion of reproductive traits of Black Anglerfish in the 
Mediterranean Sea, and the results of this study can 
contribute to improvement of stock assessment and ef- 
fective management of this species in this region. 
Materials and methods 
Sample collection 
Monthly samples of Black Anglerfish were obtained 
from 467 sampling stations situated in the fishing 
grounds off the Catalan coast in the northwestern 
Mediterranean Sea from 40°5.980'N to 43°39.310'N 
