John R. Kelley, Jr.

Length-weight data from 196 fish and spine samples from 125 fish taken August 5, 1965 were used to determine growth and age composition of blue catfish in the upper Tombigbee River in Western Alabama. Mortality rates were calculated in an effort to determine the abundance of harvestable age classes of fish. The 1964 year class was represented by one specimen and no fish of the 1965 year class were taken in the sample area. The year classes prior to 1964 were well represented in the sample. The length-weight relationship indicates that weight increments increase rapidly after fish reach 25...

Striped bass, Roccus saxatilis (Walbaum), fingerlings were stocked in five ponds, three sections of a water control canal, and 14 metal troughs. In trough experiments Purina Trout Chow was found not to contain all nutrients needed for rapid growth of fingerling striped bass. Pond experiments indicated that fathead minnows are among the preferred forage species. Mortality among trough-reared fish was 14.7 percent. Over a 16-week period, increases in total length averaged 70.6 mm for fish reared in troughs and 54.9 mm for fish in a fed pond. In ponds stocked with redfin pickerel (Esox...

Age and growth of blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus (LeSueur), collected on Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Venice, Louisiana were determined by length frequency and the pectoml spine technique. Lengths calculated from p,ectoral spines agree with the length frequency mode for age I fish collected during January, 1965. Three regressions were computed for the data and the cubic equation provided the best fit. This equation indicated that weight increased faster than the cube of the length.