First data on the age, growth and sexual maturity of the piked spurdog, Squalus megalops (Chondrichthyes: Squalidae), in the Gulf of Gabès (central Mediterranean Sea)
Sondes Marouani A B , Hasna Kadri A and Mohamed Nejmeddine Bradai A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Marine de l’INSTM (Centre de Sfax), BP 1035, Sfax 3018, Tunisia.
B Corresponding author. Email: sondesmarouani@yahoo.fr
Marine and Freshwater Research 67(5) 578-585 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF14356
Submitted: 11 November 2014 Accepted: 12 February 2015 Published: 29 July 2015
Abstract
The occurrence of the piked spurdog (Squalus megalops) in the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, central Mediterranean Sea) was recently confirmed. The present study is the first to report the age, growth, longevity, natural mortality and size and age at maturity of this species in the Mediterranean Sea, precisely in the Gulf of Gabès. Marginal increment and edge analysis suggested annual band formation. Age estimates ranged from 0 to 26 and from 0 to 29 years for males and females respectively. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters derived from length-at-age data were: the theoretical asymptotic length L∞ = 82.31 ± 1.55 cm, the growth-rate coefficient k = 0.06 ± 0.003 years–1, the theoretical age at length zero t0 = –3.89 ± 0.25 years for females; and L∞ = 68.55 ± 0.98 cm, k = 0.08 ± 0.003 years–1, t0 = –4.65 ± 0.25 years for males. Males and females reached maturity at 44.36- and 56.41-cm total length, corresponding to 8.39 and 15.38 years respectively. Longevity estimates were 32.85 and 46.11 years for males and females respectively. On the basis of life-history parameters, natural mortality estimation M ranged from 0.14 to 0.17.
Additional keywords: longevity, natural mortality.
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