The striped mullet, Mugil cephalus, has supported a commercial fishery in North Carolina since the 1800s and today ranks in the top ten of commercially valuable fin- fisheries in the state worth over a million dollars annually. The species is a direct link between lower and higher trophic levels and thus serves an important role in the food web. Despite striped mullet?s biological and economic importance, basic life history data from North Carolina are limited and the stock status is unknown. Objectives of this study were to describe striped mullet growth, reproductive seasonality, size and age at maturity, and fecundity. Monthly samples of striped mullet were collected using both fishery independent and dependent sampling strategies throughout North Carolina. Sagittae otoliths were removed and sectioned for age and growth analyses. Gonads were fixed and histologically prepared for maturity indices and fecundity estimation. Length was highly variable within age classes. Regional growth differences within North Carolina were found as fish collected from the southern sampling regions were smaller at age and lived longer than fish from the northern regions. Growth models suggest growth rates in North Carolina were greater than other areas in the species? range. Based on the presence of recently post-spawned fish and gonadal development, striped mullet spawn between late September and December. The collection of a hydrated female less than 1 km from an inlet, coupled with the presence of post-ovulatory follicles from fish sampled within the estuary, provided evidence for near-shore spawning. Males matured at a smaller length (L50) than females, 283 mm and 324 mm fork length, respectively. Fecundity correlated well with fork length (r2=0.88) and body weight (r2=0.91), and ranged from 1193 to 2535 eggs per gram of eviscerated body weight. This study provides the first life history assessment of striped mullet reproduction and growth from North Carolina and shows differences in growth, maturity, spawning location, reproductive seasonality, and fecundity compared to other areas in the species? range.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-04012004-095956 |
| Date | 13 April 2004 |
| Creators | Bichy, John Brooke |
| Contributors | Kenneth H. Pollock, Dr. Steve W. Ross and Dr. John Miller, Joseph E. Hightower |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04012004-095956/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds