
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Simpfendorfer, Colin A. 
A1  - McAuley, Rory B. 
A1  - Chidlow, Justin 
A1  - Unsworth, Phil 
T1  - Validated age and growth of the dusky shark, <emph type="2">Carcharhinus obscurus</emph>, from Western Australian waters
JF  - Marine and Freshwater Research
JO  - Mar. Freshwater Res.
Y1  - 2002
VL  - 53
IS  - 2
SP  - 567
EP  - 573
KW  - age validation, micro-radiography, elasmobranch, Indian Ocean
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF01131 
N2  - Age and growth of Carcharhinus obscurus was studied by vertebral ageing techniques. The annual formation of growth bands in the vertebrae was validated with oxytetracycline-injected individuals at liberty up to 1481 days. Growth-band counts of vertebral samples from 305 individuals ranging in size from 63 to 282 cm fork length were used to construct growth curves. Assuming a mean size at birth of 75.3 cm, estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters for males were: L&infin; = 336.5 cm and K = 0.045 year&#8211;1. Growth parameters for females were: L&infin;= 354.4 cm and K = 0.043 year&#8211;1. The age at maturity was estimated to be 17&#8211;22 years for females (220&#8211;250 cm), and 20 &#8211; 23 years for males (230&#8211;243 cm). The oldest animal aged was a 32-year-old female 274 cm in length. Growth-rate estimates based on vertebral ageing for animals up to 5 years of age are similar to those from tag&#8211;recapture studies on the same population. The results of the present study were similar to those for C. obscurus from the south-western Indian Ocean and the western North Atlantic Ocean, indicating that age and growth are similar among these populations. 
ER  -

