S7RD08 Age and growth of red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, from an artificial reef area off Alabamain northern Gulf of Mexico

Age and growth were examined of red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, captured in an extensive (3100 km2) artificial reef area off Alabama in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Sagittal otoliths were removed from individuals (n=1755) sampled from recreational catches and tournament landings. Marginal increment analysis of sectioned otoliths revealed that a single opaque zone formed annually in sagittae from January through May. Fish ages were estimated from the number of opaque zones in otoliths, timing of opaque zone formation, sampling date, and a presumed birthdate of 1 July. Estimated growth of recaptured red snapper (n=288) from a tagging experiment was similar to growth estimated from otolith-aged fish and corroborated otolith aging methods. The von Bertalanffy growth function fitted to length-at-age data was TL=969 mm (1-e-0.192(t-0.020)) (P<0.001; r2=0.99), which was similar to reported growth functions for western Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic red snapper. Results of our study are consistent with the single stock hypothesis for Gulf of Mexico red snapper.

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