Abstract

The rubia, Ocyrus chrysurus, has an important predator-prey relationship within the coral reef systems as well as an important economic resource for the artisanal fisheries. Because of this, it is important to evaluate the capture of the artisanal fishery and determine the sexual maturity through their length, weight and sex during a seven months survey in Antón Lizardo, Veracruz. In order to separate the fish according to their sex, male, female and juveniles, 30 individuals of different lengths were selected. Four sexual maturity stages were differentiated: the first for juvenile fish and three for mature, male or female. A total of 201 organisms were captured between March and September of 2016, adults were captured in a higher quantity during May (48) and the least number in June (7), for juveniles, the highest capture was in September (9) and were not present in March and May. The sex ratio was 1:1 and juveniles were only the 15% of all capture. The mean standard length for juveniles was 21 cm and the mean total length was 29.1 cm. For adults (males and females combined) the mean standard length was 29 cm and the mean total length was 40.5 cm. The weight-length relationship for juveniles was W = - 0.573L1.993 and for adults W = - 1.654L2.752 which is a negative allometric type of growth with a b < 3, and which was statistically different between juveniles and adults. The capture per unit of effort (CPUE) was higher in March, May and September, capturing up to 50% of the total with hooks # 4 and # 6. It is recom-mended to stop using hooks numbers 2, 3 10 and 15 since they target juvenile individuals. In this locality more adults than juveniles were captured between March and September. If this trend continues, probably the juvenile recruitment will be favored at the long term consequently a higher economic gain.

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