Abstract

The effective and sustainable management of fisheries species requires a detailed understanding of their life history strategies. Wrasse species occur in temperate and tropical regions and support productive fisheries across the globe. Hogfish Lachnolaimus maximus is a popular recreational and commercial wrasse species throughout its range in the northern hemisphere of the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean. In the U.S. Caribbean, hogfish ranks in the top 10 most important commercial reef fish fisheries species and is highly prized by recreational anglers. Despite its popularity and value to local fisheries, a lack of published information exists on hogfish age, growth, and reproductive biology for Caribbean populations. This study is the first to comprehensively describe age, growth, and reproductive biology for hogfish in the U.S. Caribbean and the first to utilize the 14C chronometer to directly validate the accuracy of ageing hogfish by counting opaque zones on sagittal otolith sections. Fisheries-dependent samples provided insights into the fished population. Our study supports previous research documenting hogfish is a monandric protogynous hermaphrodite species, characterized by a low male to female sex ratio, is moderately long-lived with a maximum age of 20+ y, and sexually matures within the first few years of life. Hogfish females appear to have a protracted spawning season encompassing at least 11 months of the year. Future life history research on U.S. Caribbean hogfish should target fishery-independent samples caught with a variety of gear types to better understand the population as a whole. Going forward, continued monitoring of hogfish life history parameters in this region is essential.

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