Ageing of juvenile coral grouper (Plectropomus maculatus) reveals year-round spawning and recruitment: implications for seasonal closures.

ABSTRACT: Temporal patterns in spawning and juvenile recruitment can have major effects on population size and the demographic structure of coral reef fishes. For harvested species, these patterns are crucial in determining stock size and optimizing management strategies such as seasonal closures. For the commercially important coral grouper (Plectropomus spp.) on the Great Barrier Reef, histological studies indicate peak spawning around the summer new moons. Here we examine the timing of spawning activity for P. maculatus in the southern Great Barrier Reef by deriving age in days for 761 juvenile fish collected between 2007 and 2022, and back-calculating settlement and spawning dates. Age-length relationships were used to estimate spawning and settlement times for a further 1002 juven

SUBMITTER: Harrison HB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10281809 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature