Posted by Kevin on February 20, 2002 at 08:46:36:
In Reply to: Well, if you're going to put it that way.... posted by msblucow on February 19, 2002 at 18:24:02:
Dearest Marta:
Welcome back. Sounds like you had fun, now down to brass tacks.
You wrote " Knowing this, would you be willing to refrain from taking alpha male sheepshead in the future? "
No. I have been hunting the same reefs for over 15 years. I usually dive each weekend and normally bag a big male each weekend. I know the reefs I hunt like the back of my own hand. I'll dive one reef one weekend, then not go back for 2 or 3 months to that specific spot, usually hitting other areas. Each time I go back, the big male has been replaced by another big male. It has to do with territory and food supply, both very abundant in the areas I dive. The limiting factor is not eggs or spermazoa, but again food supply and available territory. Since I am only taking one big male, as opposed to 5 smaller fish to end up with the same amount of meat, I think my strategy is very environmentally sound.
I am no scientist, and don't play one on tv. But I can do some basic research, and what I have read at the USC and UCSD libraries supports my layman's understanding. The follwing are just some of the articles I read.
Kevin
Crozier Jr., G.F. 1966. Features of carotenoid metabolism in growth and sexual maturation of the abrid fish Pimelometopon pulchrum (sheepshead) (Ayres). Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, San Diego. 80 p.
Cowen, R.K. 1983. The effects of sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) predation on red sea urchin (Stongylocentrotus franciscanus) populations: an experimental analysis. Oecologia 58:249-255.
Cowen, R.K. 1979. Trophic interactions within a central California kelp forest. M.S. Thesis, California State University Hayward. 69 p.
Cowen, R.K. 1983. The effects of sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) predation on red sea urchin (Stongylocentrotus franciscanus) populations: an experimental analysis. Oecologia 58:249-255.
Cowen, R.K. 1985. Large scale pattern of recruitment by the labrid, Semicossyphus pulcher: Causes and implications. Journal of Marine Research 43:719-742.
Cowen, R.K. 1986. Site-specific differences in the feeding ecology of the California sheephead Semicossyphus pulcher (Labridae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 16(1-3):193-203.
Cowen, R.K. 1990. Sex changes and life history patterns of the Labrid, Semicossyphus pulcher, across and environmental gradient. Copeia 1990(3):787-795.
Cowen, R.K. 1991. Variation in the planktonic larval duration of the temperate wrasse Semicossyphus pulcher. Marine Ecology Progress Series 69:9-15.