Perkinson et ah Evaluation of the stock structure of Rachycentron canadum in the southeastern United States 
227 
Table 5 
Mean number of days between initial tagging and recap¬ 
ture (days at large), by tagging zone, for cobia ( Rachycen¬ 
tron canadum) captured and tagged between 1988 and 
2017. Standard deviations (SDs) are given for means. 
GOM=Gulf of Mexico. 
Tagging zone 
Virginia 
North Carolina 
South Carolina 
Brevard County 
South of Brevard 
Florida Keys 
GOM 
Total 
Mean days at large 
539 (SD 25) 
766(SD 190) 
496 (SD 33) 
400 (SD 38) 
430 (SD 86) 
362 (SD 22) 
449 (SD 13) 
464 (SD 10) 
Brevard County, Florida 
Of the 90 recaptures from the Brevard zone, the majority 
(n= 56, 62%) were tagged during March-April, and 31% 
(/t=18) of recaptures occurred then as well. However, in 
contrast to the Virginia and South Carolina zones, cobia 
were available over a long period, and tagging occurred in 
every month of the year excluding September. Addition¬ 
ally, recaptures occurred in the Brevard zone during every 
month of the year. Cobia tagged in the Brevard zone were 
also recaptured over a very wide geographic area, from 
Texas to New Jersey, and recaptures of Brevard-tagged 
cobia occurred in every zone (Fig. 3). Recaptures in the 
Brevard zone occurred from cobia tagged from Louisiana to 
Virginia. Unlike in Virginia and South Carolina, where the 
majority of cobia were recaptured in the same zone where 
tagging occurred, only 37% (n=33) of the cobia tagged in 
the Brevard zone were also recaptured in the Brevard 
Figure 3 
Maps of study area showing the sites where cobia (Rachycentron canadum) were recaptured after being tagged in 1988-2017 
in 4 zones: (A) Virginia, including all waters of the Chesapeake Bay, (B) South Carolina, (C) Brevard County, Florida, and 
(D) Florida Keys. A rectangle indicates the general tagging location in each zone. 
