| Abstract: | We examined the growth characteristics of 303 Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus, caught in the commercial fishery off the New Jersey coast from 1992 to 1994 (fork length range: 93-219 cm). Sections taken from the leading pectoral fin ray were used to age each sturgeon. Ages ranged from 5-26 years. Von Bertalanffy growth models for males and females fit well, but test statistics (t-test, maximum likelihood) failed to reject the null hypothesis that growth was not significantly different between sexes. Consequently, all data were pooled and the combined data gave L??? and K estimates of 174.2 cm and 0.144, respectively. Our growth data do not fit the pattern of slower growth and increased size in more northernly latitudes for Atlantic sturgeon observed in other work. Lack of uniformity of our growth data may be due to (1) the sturgeon fishery harvesting multiple stocks having different growth rates, and (2) size limits for the commercial fishery having created a bias in estimating growth parameters. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70029302 |
| Citation Author: | Johnson, J. H.; McKenna, Jr. , J. E.; Dropkin, D. S.; Andrews, W. D. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | |
| Citation Datum: | |
| Citation Day: | |
| Citation Edition: | |
| Citation Editor: | |
| Citation End Page: | 202 |
| Citation Issue: | 2 |
| Citation Keywords: | |
| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Northeastern Naturalist |
| Citation LatN: | |
| Citation LatS: | |
| Citation LonE: | |
| Citation LonW: | |
| Citation Month: | |
| Citation No Pagination: | |
| Citation Number Of Pages: | 8 |
| Citation Online Only Flag: | |
| Citation Phsyical Description: | |
| Citation Projection: | |
| Citation Public Comments: | |
| Citation Publisher: | |
| Citation Series: | |
| Citation Series Code: | |
| Citation Series Number: | |
| Citation Search Results Text: | A novel approach to fitting the Von Bertalanffy relationship to a mixed stock of atlantic sturgeon harvested off the New Jersey coast; 2005; Article; Journal; Northeastern Naturalist; Johnson, J. H.; McKenna, Jr. , J. E.; Dropkin, D. S.; Andrews, W. D. |
| Citation Start Page: | 195 |
| Citation Volume: | 12 |
| Citation Year: | 2005 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | A novel approach to fitting the Von Bertalanffy relationship to a mixed stock of atlantic sturgeon harvested off the New Jersey coast; 2005; Article; Journal; Northeastern Naturalist; Johnson, J. H.; McKenna, Jr. , J. E.; Dropkin, D. S.; Andrews, W. D. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| Date Other: | Sat, 1 Jan 2005 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | |
