Age, growth, and natural mortality of yellowfin grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa) from the southeastern United States

Michael L Burton; Jennifer C Potts; Daniel R Carr

doi:10.7717/peerj.1099

Age, growth, and natural mortality of yellowfin grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa) from the southeastern United States

PeerJ. 2015 Jul 21:3:e1099. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1099. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Michael L Burton¹, Jennifer C Potts¹, Daniel R Carr¹

Affiliation

¹ Beaufort Laboratory, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA , Beaufort, NC , USA.

Abstract

Ages of yellowfin grouper (n = 306) from the southeastern United States coast from 1979-2014 were determined using sectioned sagittal otoliths. Opaque zones were annular, forming January-June (peaking in February-March). Yellowfin grouper ranged in age from 3 to 31 years; the largest fish measured 1,000 mm fork length (FL). Body size relationships for yellowfin grouper were: W = 1.22 × 10(-5) FL(3.03) (n = 229, r (2) = 0.92); TL = 1.06 FL - 14.53 (n = 60, r (2) = 0.99); and FL = 0.93 TL + 18.63 (n = 60, r (2) = 0.99), where W = whole weight in grams, FL in mm, and TL = total length in mm. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was: Lt = 958 (1 - e(-0.11(t+2.94))) (n = 306). The point estimate of natural mortality for yellowfin grouper was M = 0.14, while age-specific estimates of M ranged from 1.59 to 0.17 for ages 1-31.

Keywords: Age-growth; Life history; Natural mortality; Serranidae.

Grants and funding

This work was approved and funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL and Beaufort Laboratory. There were no external grants. The manuscript was reviewed in-house by both the Laboratory and the Center prior to journal submission. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.