 In response to the over fishing , the tilefish 's age of sexual maturity has been dramatically affected . From 1978 to 1982 the median age of sexual maturity in males declined by 2 @.@ 5 years from 7 @.@ 1 to 4 @.@ 6 years . This resulted in the males becoming sexually mature before females . In 2008 , the median age of sexual maturity in males had risen to 5 @.@ 9 years . Females of the species also exhibit low reproducibility after becoming sexually mature , instead increasing with age and their sexual maturity has varied to a lesser extent then the male population across the years . 
