460 
Fishery Bulletin 96(3), 1998 
their total potential growth is accomplished in only 
20% of their life span. Moreover, they become sexu- 
ally mature at age 5-6 years (Murphy and Taylor, 
1989) and appear reproductively active over a po- 
tential lifespan of some 60 years. Life history theory 
indicates that species that have an early age at first 
reproduction and fast growth tend to be short lived 
(Begon et al., 1990; Chamov, 1993). Typically, long-lived 
fishes grow slowly and mature late, like sturgeons 
(Jenkins and Burkhead, 1993) and redfishes, Sebastes 
(Scott and Scott, 1988; Beverton, 1992). Black drum 
are as long-lived as these fishes but have faster early 
growth and a relatively early age of first reproduction. 
This strategy may give black drum a capacity to main- 
tain population stability greater than that seen in simi- 
larly long-lived fishes in the presence of heavy fishing. 
Acknowledgments 
We would like to thank the eastern shore fishermen, 
and especially the late Clyde Bradford, for helping us 
to obtain samples. Collections for 1990 and part of 199 1 
were made by Stephen J. Bobko, and the 1990 data 
were the basis of his M.S. thesis. The following people 
assisted in collections: Stephen Nixon, Robert Skinner, 
Sean Priest, and Bill Sharp. Qing Yang and Tung Quash 
assisted in otolith processing, and Hassan Lakkis and 
Qing Yang assisted with statistical analyses. This re- 
search was funded by a Wallop/Breaux Program Grant 
for Sport Fish Restoration from the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service through the Virginia Marine Re- 
source Commission, Project F-88-R3-7. 
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