Age, growth, mortality, and radiometric age validation of gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) from Louisiana

The gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) is a temperate and tropical reef fish that is found along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. The recreational fishery for gray snapper has developed rapidly in south Louisiana with the advent of harvest and seasonalrestrictions on the established red snapper (L. campechanus) fishery. We examined the age and growth ofgray snapper in Louisiana with the use of cross-sectioned sagittae. A total of 833 specimens, (441 males, 387females, and 5 of unknown sex) were opportunistically sampled from the recreational fishery from August 1998 to August 2002. Males ranged in size from 222 to 732 mm total length (TL) and from 280 g to 5700 g total weight (TW) and females ranged from 254 to 756 mm TL and from 340 g to 5800 g TW. Both edge analysis and bomb radiocarbon analyses were used to validate otolith-based age estimates. Ages were estimated for 718 individuals; both males and females rangedfrom 1 to 28 years. The von Bertalanffy growth models derived from TL at age were Lt = 655.4{1–e[–0.23(t)]}for males, Lt = 657.3{1–e[– 0.21(t)]} for females, and L t = 656.4{1–e[– 0.22 (t)]} for all specimens of known sex. Catch curves were used to produce a total mortality (Z) estimate of 0.17. Estimates of M calculated with variousmethods ranged from 0.15 to 0.50; however we felt that M= 0.15 was the most appropriate estimate based on our estimate of Z. Full recruitment to the gray snapper recreational fishery began at age 4, was completed by age8, and there was no discernible peak in the catch curve dome.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Fischer, Andrew J., Baker Jr., M. Scott, Wilson, Charles A., Nieland, David L.
Format:	article biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	2005
Subjects:	Biology, Ecology, Fisheries,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26225
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