Abstract

Groupers have historically been an important component of the Bermuda fishery. The coney (Cephalopholis fulva) comprised almost 50% of the total landed weight of all grouper species in Bermuda from 1991 – 2003. In light of this significant contribution to fishery landings and because little is known about the fishery biology of the coney, a study was initiated in January 2000.\One of the principal components of this study was to examine age and growth. Opaque rings on polished transverse sections of sagittal otoliths were used to estimate age. Fish were collected by hook and line from several locations on the Bermuda reef platform. Fork lengths of conies sampled ranged from 151 mm to 384 mm. Age estimates, determined for 997 specimens, ranged from 2 to 28 years with wide variability in the length-at-age. There was a significant positive correlation between otolith weight (OW) and age estimates which will enable the use of OW as a proxy for age of conies in future stock assessments.\The other important aspect of the study was to characterize the sexual pattern and reproductive biology of the coney. Gonads were examined histologically to confirm sex and reproductive condition. The results confirm protogynous hermaphroditism in this species. Of the 998 fish sexed, 46.1% were female, 40.1% were male and 13.8% were transitional fish. There was considerable overlap in the length distributions of males (mean length 256 mm FL ± 28 mm SD), females (mean length 232 mm FL ± 34 mm SD) and transitionals (mean length 241 mm FL ± 30 mm SD) and the overall sex ratio was female biased (1.15F:1M). The reproductive season was from April to July inclusive with peak spawning occurring in June.

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