Growth and Mortality of the Fantail Sole, Xystreurys liolepis (Jordan and Gilbert 1881) off the Western Coast of Baja California, Mexico

Abstract

Data on growth and mortality were obtained for fantail sole, Xystreu- <br /><br />rys liolepis collected with otter trawls during 1 1 cruises off the western coast of <br /><br />Baja California, Mexico, from April 1988 to December 1990. The Bottom tem- <br /><br />perature varied between 11 to 19°C. In all, 712 X liolepis were caught and over <br /><br />the sampling period the sex ratio of males to females was 1:1.2. Males were <br /><br />smaller than females. The relationship between weight and length is described for <br /><br />males by, W = 1.1013 X 10 5 SL 3 - 121544 and for females by, W = 7.6274 X 10 6 <br /><br />SL 31932 . Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were determined to be: h^ = 443 mm <br /><br />SL, k = 0.16, to = -0.098 total sample, for males by, L M = 354.85 mm SL, k <br /><br />= 0.151, to = -0.918, and for females by, L^ = 444.68 mm SL, k = 0.1636, t <br /><br />= —0.423. The total mortality (Z) rate was 0.62 and the estimated fishing mor- <br /><br />tality (F) was 0.46. Although fantail sole is not a target species of commercial <br /><br />fisheries, it suffers high mortality as part of the bycatch in the shrimp fishery.