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Princess parrotfish Scarus taeniopterus age, growth, maturity, and transition

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Abstract

Princess parrotfish Scarus taeniopterus is one of the top three parrotfish species landed in the Caribbean, and the top Scarus species targeted in commercial fishing efforts; however, a paucity of information exists concerning basic life history information for Caribbean parrotfish species. Prior to this work, no comprehensive life history information existed in the literature for princess parrotfish. This study provides the first comprehensive documentation of age, growth, size/age at sexual maturity, and size/age at transition for a Caribbean Scarus species. Sampling of 759 fish occurred in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands from October 2015 to February 2020. Females ranged from 50 to 250 mm total length (TL) and 0 to 7 years of age, males ranged from 159 to 314 mm TL and 2 to 11 years, and transitional fish ranged from 140 to 292 mm TL and 2 to 6 years. Previously unknown von Bertalanffy parameters (L = 301 and k = 0.316) and length at median sexual maturity (LM50 = 119 mm TL), age at median sexual maturity (AM50 = 1.5 years), length at median sexual transition (LS50 = 223 mm TL), and age at median sexual transition (AS50 = 4.2 years) will enable stock assessments and informed management for this Caribbean parrotfish.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The research for this work would not have been possible without the support and assistance of US Caribbean fishers including G. Martinez, G. Martinez, Jr., B. Thomas, O. Hughes, and T. Daley. We are extremely grateful for the field and lab assistance of K. E. Correa Velez, K. Kirkland, G. Wagner, and S. Thomas. We thank The Nature Conservancy in St. Croix for allowing us to utilize their facilities to process samples. We also thank Julien Margras (STT/STJ Fishermen’s Association), Marcos Henke (CFMC), Rick Nemeth (UVI), and Noemí Peña-Alvarado (PR DNER) for their support and assistance with logistics throughout the investigation. This paper resulted from the MS thesis research of D.D.J. under the direction of his advisor V.R.S., who co-wrote this paper. J.M.R.S. coordinated sampling in the Caribbean, assisted in the interpretation of histology and otolith slides, and assisted in revising this paper. The authors thank the thesis committee members who reviewed the thesis project on which this study was based: M. Hughes, W. Bubley, and D. Wilber.

Funding

Funding was provided by NMFS Southeast Regional Office (MARFIN Awards NA15NMF4330153, NA15NMF4330157, and NA18NMF4330239; Saltonstall-Kennedy Award NA18NMF4270203) and by the Joanna Foundation (Graduate Fellowship in Marine Biology).

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Correspondence to Virginia R. Shervette.

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Fish samples obtained by authors of this study and reported on here were collected and handled in accordance within the guidelines of the U.S. Government Principles for the Utilization and Care of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research and Training (https://olaw.nih.gov/sites/default/files/PHSPolicyLabAnimals.pdf). This research was conducted under USCA IACUC protocol #053012-BIO-04.

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Jones, D.D., Rivera Hernández, J.M. & Shervette, V.R. Princess parrotfish Scarus taeniopterus age, growth, maturity, and transition. Environ Biol Fish 104, 581–595 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01097-5

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