80 
Table 2 
Fishery Bulletin 119(1) 
Model functional form, error probability distribution, and variance—covariance matrix of regression coefficients for models A—D of 
statistical relationships between key life history parameters for 3 families of tropical coastal fish species and for sharks from the 
orders Carcharhiniformes and Lamniformes. For each taxon, the first line presents model functional forms and error distributions in 
brackets. Models are linear (L; Y=b)+b, .. .X) and power (P; logY=b)+6, . . . logX) functions. Error distribution types are normal (N) 
and lognormal (LN). The first line also shows regression coefficients followed by the standard deviation for each distribution, given 
as the last value in the line. The second line presents the variance—covariance matrix of the regression parameters for 1-variable 
models (6) variance, 6b, variance, and b)—b, covariance) and 2-variable models (by variance, b; variance, b, variance, by—b, covari- 
ance, by—by covariance, and b,—b, covariance). The models relate the following parameters: the asymptotic length (L,.), maximum 
length (L,,,,), growth coefficient (K), natural mortality (M), length at which 50% of individuals are mature (L,,;), and the expected 
length at the oldest recorded age (L,,,,x)- TL=total length. 
Taxon 
Haemulidae 
Labridae 
Serranidae: small 
(<100 cm TL) 
(D) fh 2 Tlrar 
[L,N] -29.3, 1.08, 53.5 
2170, 0.0892, -4.15 
[L,N] -61.3, 1.08, 53.8 
976, 0.00377, —1.67 
[L,N] -19.7, 0.97, 60.9 
552, 0.0017, -0.9 
(B) K~ L. 
[P,LN] 4.21, -0.87, 0.33 
1.86, 0.05, —0.3 
[P,LN] 4.15, -0.94, 0.5 
1.54, 0.0453, -—0.262 
[P,LN] 3.69, —0.83, 0.49 
0.42, 0.0104, —0.0653 
Model 
@)Mekenia 
[P,LN] 6.11, 0.11, -1.28, 0.39 
8.05, 0.11, 0.25, -0.47, 
-1.42, 0.0956 
[P,LN] -2.61, 0.64, 0.27, 0.42 
2.7, 0.0587, 0.1, —0.28, 
—0.515, 0.06 
[P,LN] 0.73, 0.23, —0.36, 0.35 
0.404, 0.00774, 0.0125, 
(D) Linat a Dros: 
[L,N] 101, 0.5, 31.4 
1420, 0.00787, -3.09 
[L,LN] 70, 0.27, 0.28 
1130, 0.0074, -2.54 
[L,LN] 53.6, 0.49, 0.13 
193, 0.000709, —0.32 
[L,N] 5.11, 0.92, 95.4 
15,179, 0.0081, -10.8 
[L,N] 95.9, 1.02, 217 
10,100, 0.00165, -3.65 
Serranidae: large 
(>100 cm TL) 
Sharks 
An extensive literature review was conducted by using 
several sources and collections (e.g., FishBase, Froese and 
Pauly, 2017; the libraries at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fish- 
eries Science Center and North Carolina State University; 
and general Internet search tools) to find published stud- 
ies related to growth (L,, and K), maturity (L,,,4), and lon- 
gevity (A,,,x, from which M is derived). Values of L,,,, were 
obtained from the same growth studies from which values 
of L., and K were obtained, by taking the largest observed 
length in each study. 
We originally included the following families in our 
literature review: Haemulidae (grunts), Holocentridae 
(squirrelfishes), Labridae (wrasses), Serranidae (grou- 
pers), and Siganidae (rabbitfishes), as well as sharks from 
various families. Groupers and wrasses include hundreds 
of small-bodied species (i.e., <10 cm total length), with 
nonexistent life history information, that we excluded 
from our search. We excluded species of groupers from 
the genus Anthias and species of wrasses from several 
genera, such as Cirrhilabrus, Halichoeres, Labroides, 
and Pseudojuloides. These species are characterized by 
extremely small body sizes, and their growth, maturity, 
and longevity traits are unlikely to have the same rela- 
tionships as the traits of larger species in the same fam- 
ilies. Researchers should not use the stepwise approach 
[P,LN] 6.77, -1.15, 0.47 
1.91, 0.0327, —0.25 
—0.0296, —0.07, 0.0065 
[L,LN] -17.4, 0.79, 0.12 
5080, 0.00265, —3.33 
[P,LN] 3.65, 0.11, -0.69, 
0.21 0.59, 0.00591, 0.013, 
—0.0336, —0.0862, 0.00603 
on species from these genera, even if life history studies 
for these species are available. In addition, the only fam- 
ily of sharks that had enough life history information to 
run an independent statistical analysis was Carcharhin- 
idae, and almost all of the shark studies we found were 
on species from the orders Carcharhiniformes and Lam- 
niformes. We therefore defined the shark group in our 
study described here as a group containing species from 
these 2 orders only. 
We examined information available for 1134 species in 
these taxonomic groups, but we found published growth 
and maturity values for only 115 of those species (Table 3; 
for a list of these species and the literature used as sources 
of life history information, see Supplementary Table [online 
only]), highlighting the paucity of information available for 
assessment of these species. Because of a lack of published 
studies, we were unable to extend the approach of Nadon 
and Ault (2016) to squirrelfishes and rabbitfishes because 
only 2 and 6 species in these families had published life 
history data, respectively. 
Raw data sets were generally unavailable from the 
studies in our literature review. We therefore had to rely 
on the fitted growth and maturity parameters from the 
von Bertalanffy growth function and on the logistic matu- 
rity model as fit in these studies. For growth parameters, 
