. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. FAUNA ABOVE MUD BOTTOMS IN DEEP WATER 317 In the case of Sebastes, the great majority were upwards of 22-23 cm. long, averaging something like 25-30 cm., a size that would be classified as " medium to large " in statistics of the commercial fishery (Figs. 3, 4). In fact, out of a total of 4,334 specimens taken, only 115 were less than 20 cm. long, and only 56 smaller than 15 cm., although the net should certainly have sampled this spiny species adequately down to 7-9 cm., and have taken at least a scattering of sti
. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. FAUNA ABOVE MUD BOTTOMS IN DEEP WATER 317 In the case of Sebastes, the great majority were upwards of 22-23 cm. long, averaging something like 25-30 cm., a size that would be classified as " medium to large " in statistics of the commercial fishery (Figs. 3, 4). In fact, out of a total of 4,334 specimens taken, only 115 were less than 20 cm. long, and only 56 smaller than 15 cm., although the net should certainly have sampled this spiny species adequately down to 7-9 cm., and have taken at least a scattering of still smaller sizes had they been present in numbers at all approaching those of the larger fish. The rate of growth of Sebastes in the Gulf of Maine has not been studied, but its pelagic larvae have been taken there up to a length of cm. (to a considerably larger size in European waters). The facts that fry of to cm. are abundant on bottom in spring and summer (Bigelow and Welsh, 1925; Bigelow and Schroeder, 1936) and that in a collection made in summer at Eastport, Maine, many years ago, there is a distinct size group of cm., make it likely that the peak at 7-9 cm. shown on Fig. 5 represents fish one year old, and the o 1- O 0-4 \- - l • A n * »* •• fl \ - z UJ 0 o: 2 ui e~ o. n : ] /" * \ r \ - • •••• • / u v -. 10 15 20 25 LENGTH IN CM. FIG. 5. Length-frequency distribution of all Sebastes taken less than 24 cm. long (146 specimens), smoothed once by running average of three. The broken curve marks the lower limit for adequate sampling by the nets employed. next larger group centering at 15-21 cm., those two years old. On this basis, the fish of 24 cm. and larger, that formed the bulk of the catch in all three areas, were at least three years old and upwards. Un- fortunately, our data afford no information as to how many year classes were actually included, for these older fish appear as a single size-group on the graphs for the two
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlilliefrankrat, booksubjectbiology, booksubjectzoology
