130 
Fishery Bulletin 11 7(3) 
1600 - 
1400 
1200 - 
Total length (mm) 
Figure 3 
Weight-length relationships for male (squares) and female (triangles) red lionfish ( Pter- 
ois volitans ) collected from 2012 through 2015 in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Data are 
pooled for all sampled ecological regions. 7? 2 =coefficient of multiple determination. 
Table 2 
Estimated marginal mean weight, in grams and adjusted for total length in millime¬ 
ters, for invasive red lionfish (Pterois volitans) collected from 2012 through 2015 in 
3 ecological regions (ecoregions) in the northern Gulf of Mexico: southeast (Florida 
Keys north to Anclote Keys, Florida), northeast (Anclote Keys north to Mobile Bay, 
Alabama), and central (west of Mobile Bay to Galveston Bay, Texas). Estimates are 
given for females, males, and sexes pooled with standard errors of the mean (SEs) in 
parentheses. 
Sex 
Ecoregion 
n 
Estimated weight (SE) 
Female 
Southeast 
668 
187.98(1.69) 
Female 
Northeast 
1227 
193.88(1.22) 
Female 
Central 
348 
206.19 (2.35) 
Female 
Pooled 
2243 
195.13 (3.69) 
Male 
Southeast 
844 
325.20(2.36) 
Male 
Northeast 
1101 
334.50 (2.01) 
Male 
Central 
346 
347.95 (3.61) 
Male 
Pooled 
2291 
333.62 (3.58) 
Pooled 
Southeast 
1512 
258.75 (4.79) 
Pooled 
Northeast 
2328 
253.52 (3.86) 
Pooled 
Central 
694 
294.96 (7.07) 
was reached in October and November, indicating the 
beginning of annuli formation (Fig. 4). Ages of red lion¬ 
fish ranged from 0.5 to 4.5 years (Fig. 5), with 93% of aged 
red lionfish <2 years old. The smallest and youngest spec¬ 
imen collected in this study was a 81-mm-TL, 0.5-year- 
old fish of unknown sex, and the oldest specimen was a 
380-mm-TL, 4.5-year-old male. The largest fish collected 
was a 434-mm-TL male, but its estimated age was 
3.5 years. The state record for the longest lionfish caught 
in the northern GOM (459 mm TL) was for a fish collected 
off Pensacola, Florida (record available from website). 
There were significant differences in age and growth 
parameters by sex and by ecoregion (all comparisons: 
P<0.001; for comparisons of modeled estimates with the 
sum of squares reduction test, see Table 3; for observed 
values, see Figure 6). Female red lionfish from the south¬ 
east ecoregion had the highest growth rate ( K) and asymp¬ 
totic length (L J and achieved a greater length at age than 
