A strong argument for the single M. paradoxus stock hypothesis (Burmeister, 2005) is that the major (perhaps effectively the only) spawning ground for the species is on the Agulhas Bank slope. Linked to this, one might then expect greater proportions of smaller M. paradoxus closer to this region, and Burmeister (2005, Fig. 2) shows plots that seemingly corroborate this, reflecting mean lengths of M. paradoxus collected on research survey that generally increase with movement from the Agulhas Bank north-westwards to the Kunene river (Namibian-Angolan border).