GULF OF MEXICO

Redfish on the Gulf of Mexico

Redfish on the Gulf of Mexico

Redfish

The redfish is a marine fish of northern Atlantic and a well-known food fish. It was described as Perca-marina and comes from Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, in the southern Barents Sea, the coast of Norway, including the Skagerrak, around Iceland, the coasts of southern and eastern Greenland and southern Labrador Sea as far as New Jersey before. The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba (Holt, 2000).

Characteristics of Redfish

The redfish are up to one meter in length, but usually they found at a length of 45 to 50 centimeters. The maximum weight is 15 kg, the maximum age at 60 years. Redfish`s skin has a deep golden red color without any dark markings. The belly is pink or rosy. The rear part of the gill cover is dark. The two lower spines are inclined forward and downward. Redfish`s dorsal fin is 14 to 16, usually 15 strong spines and 13 to 16, usually supported 14-15 soft rays. In the anal fin counts, three spines and 7 to 11, usually 8-9 soft rays. The pectoral fins are 18 to 21, usually 19 rays (Holt, 2000).

Mating takes place in the Barents Sea from August to September and in Iceland and Greenland, held from October to January, when the eggs are not yet ripe. Here, the sperm of the male are transmitted by means of a short seed tube. The females store the sperm first. From February to March then there is an internal fertilization. Then the females migrate to the birth places. They lie in the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland, off the southwest Iceland, with Newfoundland and deep regions off the coast of northern Norway. The larvae are born from April to June. A female can give birth 50000-350000 fish larvae of 8 mm length. The young fish grow very slowly. They live near the ocean surface first and only go with a length of about 3 to 5 cm from the ground-level living at depths of 100 to 200 meters. The red coloring they take in with the age of 4 to 5 years and at a length of about 15 cm. By the age of 10 to 12 years and a length of 30 to 40 cm they are sexually mature, the males first (Liao, 1994).

These stocks were mostly discovered between 1947 and 1952, from the deck of research vessel investigator which had its home port at the Biological Station. Commercial fishing has been significant growth over the years and reached the maximum yield of 389.000 metric tons (t) in 1959. Following the imposition of quotas established to curb the exploitation of previous years, Mexico landings increased from ...