Life History and Spawning Behavior

The table below provides information on specific life history and spawning behavior parameters for 28 species of marine fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. These parameters were selected, because they are directly correlated with resilience or vulnerability to fishing pressure and environmental variation in marine fishes. The parameters related to spawning behavior (aggregation type, spawning season duration, density change) are those known to be important for assessing the vulnerability of spawning aggregations to fishing pressure. These parameters represent how far individuals travel to form fish spawning aggregations (FSAs), how long they aggregate to spawn, and how densely they aggregate. For example, fishes that travel vast distances to aggregate in large numbers for a short and very predictable time period at a specific location will be highly vulnerable to exploitation. Conversely, fishes that form many aggregations that each hold fewer fish, are distributed widely, and persist for several months will be much less vulnerable to exploitation.

The remaining parameters were chosen to represent the life history of the species, and indicate their natural productivity or resilience to exploitation. One can see that a large species with a long lifespan and generation time that grows slowly and sustains a high level of natural mortality will not be equipped to handle a high rate of exploitation. Similarly, a small species with a short lifespan and generation time that grows quickly and sustains a low level of natural mortality would likely be able to withstand a relatively high level of exploitation. These parameters may be used in conjunction with parameters that represent fisheries and management to determine the vulnerability of these fishes to exploitation under current management regimes.

Additional details and information on life history parameters, types of spawning aggregations, and other aspects can be found in the “Methods” section of the website.