New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Size-fecundity relationships in the orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus

N. W. PANKHURST*

A. M. CONROY

Fisheries Research Centre* Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries P.O. Box 297, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract Fecundity estimates were made from 70 late-vitellogenic orange roughy captured from the Kaikoura Coast during May 1986; Absolute fecundities ranged from 26 000 to 90 000, with a relative fecundity of 22 000 eggs per kg body-weight. Both relative and absolute fecundities are one to two orders of magnitude lower than in six other commercially exploited New Zealand species. The comparatively lower fecundity of orange roughy combined with an apparently high age at maturity make this species potentially Susceptible to overfishing.

Keywords fecundity; orange roughy;; fish eggs; reproductive strategy

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1987, Vol. 21: 295-300 0028-8330/87/2102-0295$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1987 Received 23 October 1986; accepted 25 November 1986

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (427K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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