Abstract

Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, support important recreational and commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf). Both fisheries have been intensely managed since the early 1990s after perceptions of overfishing in both sectors surfaced during the 1980s. Due to incomplete or missing tife history data, particularly in regard to the species' reproductive behavior and output, certain assumptions have been made as regulations to promote the species' recovery have been designed. To provide information on the size and age of female red snapper at the onset of reproductive maturity, specimens from the Gulf off Alabama and Louisiana were examined for evidence of spawning activity during the spawning seasons of 1999, 2000, and 2001. The progression of oocyte maturation to vitellogenesis as observed in histological sections of ovarian tissues was used to define sexual maturity. The smallest red snapper having either hydrated oocytes or postovulatory follicles, definitive evidence of imminent or recent spawning, was 267 mm FL and was two years old. Female red snapperin Alabamareached maturation at a smaller size and younger age than those in Louisiana and growth rates did not differ between the regions.

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