Schwenke and Buckel: Age, growth, and reproduction of Coryphaena hippurus 
87 
Figure 2 
Length-at-age data for male (filled circles) and female (open circles) dolphinfish ( Coryphaena hippurus) from (A) annual 
marks on scales from >age-0 dolphinfish, (B) annual marks on scales from age-0 and >age-0 dolphinfish (with the assump- 
tion of a 15 April hatching date, and (C) annual marks on scales from >age-0 dolphinfish (with the assumption of a 15 
April hatching date). Length-at-age data (A and C) from daily otolith increments for age-0 dolphinfish with fork length 
<650 mm (male, female, and sex undetermined; open triangles) are presented. Functions A and C are presented for von 
Bertalanffy model fits to male (solid line), female (gray dashed line), and combined sexes (dark dashed line) length-at-age 
data (otolith and scale data combined for model fitting). Mean size-at-age data for dolphinfish from Rose and Hassler 
(1968) are plotted (C; open squares) for comparison with 2002-04 length-at-age values; values from Rose and Hassler 
(1968) were not used in fitting the von Bertalanffy growth function. VBGF=von Bertalanffy growth function. 
1961-62 are shown in Figure 2C (where a mean capture 
date of 15 July was assumed for all plots; Rose and 
Hassler, 1968), and are similar to length-at-age values 
from the present study. 
Length-at-age data for dolphinfish from past studies 
from different regions show an apparent trend in re- 
gional groupings (Fig. 3). The von Bertalanffy growth 
functions calculated for the Gulf of Mexico and Carib- 
bean all display faster growth rates than those for 
Florida, North Carolina, and the Mediterranean, and an 
average longevity of less than one year. Dolphinfish col- 
lected from Florida, North Carolina, and the Mediter- 
ranean Sea all displayed similar first-year growth rates 
and a maximum age of 3 or 4 years (Fig. 3). However, 
Mediterranean dolphinfish have a slightly smaller size 
at age 2 and 3 compared to size for these ages of Florida 
and North Carolina dolphinfish. 
Reproduction 
Males reached 50% maturity at 476 mm FL and 100% 
maturity was reached at 645 mm FL (Table 3). Females 
reached 50% maturity at a slightly smaller size than 
males, although confidence limits for this parameter 
overlapped with those of males. At 458 mm FL, 50% of 
female dolphinfish were mature, and 100% were mature 
at about 560 mm FL. 
