SPACE-TIME FLUCTUATIONS IN THE GROWTH OF PRIONOTUS-STEPHANOPHRYS (SCORPAENIFORMES, TRIGLIDAE) FROM THE PACIFIC OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

The lumptail searobin is a dominant fish in the western continental sh elf of Baja California Sur. In order to analyze growth variations by l atitude and season, the study area was divided into four subareas, whi ch were sampled in February and July 1989, March and September 1990. C omparison among growth patterns (as described by von Bertalanffy's mod el) was accomplished by Hotelling's T-2 test, and a similarity matrix was constructed using standardized T-2 values. The differences were no n-significant and the distances small among subareas in summer, wherea s in winter and between seasons they were noteworthy. This phenomenon is related to the winter concentration by depth and latitude and summe r dispersion of the species, as well as the reproduction taking place in summer. On the other hand, the northernmost subarea (Vizcaino Bay), whose population may be different, was the most distant from the othe rs. Finally, the predominance of a single year class in the southernmo st subarea is interpreted as an effect of population periphery,the cen ter of the population having a more even distribution of year classes.