Age estimation of the Atlantic bonito in the eastern Mediterranean Sea using dorsal spines and validation of the method

Nikolaos Zaboukas; Persefoni Megalofonou

doi:10.3989/scimar.2007.71n4691

Authors

Nikolaos Zaboukas Department of Zoology-Marine Biology, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Persefoni Megalofonou Department of Zoology-Marine Biology, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2007.71n4691

Keywords:

Sarda sarda, age and growth, validation, marginal increment analysis, Mediterranean

Abstract

Growth parameters were studied in 397 specimens of the Atlantic bonito caught in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Aegean and Ionian Seas) ranging from 7.2 to 72.5 cm in fork length and from 2 to 5400 g in total weight. The study of the growth bands in spine sections showed that one translucent ring is formed annually during the cold season. The growth parameters estimated (L_∞ = 82.99 cm, K = 0.24, t₀ = -0.77) express the growth of the species more realistically than previous studies in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

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