Aspects of fishing and reproduction of the black grouper Mycteroperca bonaci (Poey, 1860) (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in the Northeastern Brazil

The reproductive biology of the black grouper Mycteroperca bonaci, caught by artisanal fishermen using hook and line or compressor - assisted spear fishing, from the Northeastern shelf and oceanic banks of Brazil, was studied between August 1996 and April 1998. The sexual pattern, gonadal development, the spawning mode and seasonality were investigated. The gonadal stages indicated that this species is a protogynous hermaphrodite and that transition from female to male occurs through simultaneous re-absorption of ovarian tissue and proliferation of testicular tissue in the gonads. The specie is a multiple spawner and frequency analysis of gonadal stages and gonadosomatic index suggest that the spawning season occurs between April and September. Considerations about the fisheries, related to size structure of fishes caught, were based on length frequency distribution. The phenomenon of "correcao" was described based on ethnobiology studies and informations from the Northeast Fisheries Statistics Bulletin of the Brazilian Environmental Institute (IBAMA). The phenomenon of the "correcao" undergone by Mycteroperca bonaci seems to be a Southward chain reaction (of the State of Ceara to Bahia) and is a feeding aggregation.