Age, Growth, Mortality, and Diet Composition of Vermilion Snapper from the North‐Central Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

AbstractThe vermilion snapper Rhomboplites aurorubens supports a highly managed and important reef fishery and can exhibit regional variations in growth, but little is known about what constitutes the diet of this species in the Gulf of Mexico. We examined age, growth, mortality, and diet composition of vermilion snapper from the recreational fishery in the north‐central Gulf of Mexico. Age and growth showed that the oldest fish collected was 20 years old; however, there was large variability in length‐at‐age data for most ages. Although there was little interannual variation in growth, males grew more slowly than females. The sex ratio was 1.3:1 (females: males) for fish less than age 9 but was 7:1 for fish of age 9 and older. Diet composition included 30 different taxonomic groups and was similar to diet compositions described for other lutjanids that inhabit reef structure in the Gulf of Mexico. The incidence of reef‐specific prey items was greater than that for other sympatric species and included large quantities of amphipods and tunicates. These results suggest that vermilion snapper may have more diverse feeding characteristics than previously reported and highlight a direct dependence of Gulf of Mexico vermilion snapper on prey items that inhabit reef structures.