Movement of Gag, Mycteroperca Microlepis, in and from St. Andrew Bay, Florida

In this study, we investigated movements of gag, Mycteroperca microlepis, in a deep, high salinity embayment in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from August 1994 through August 1996. Two hundred-fifty gag were captured in traps, tagged with internal anchor tags, and released into St. Andrew Bay, Florida. One hundred thirty-two (52.8%) tagged gag were recaptured by recreational anglers and by project personnel. Only 14.3% of gag moved from their release sites, with the distance moved averaging 2.38 km (east and southeast) within the bay. Six large gag (>500 mm total length) moved from 9 to 458 km out of the bay, presumably to recruit to offshore spawning stocks. Recaptured gag were free up to 645 d. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of distance moved by gag revealed that days free was a significant effect in the model, but total length was not.