Dentex maroccanus Valenciennes, 1830 Otolith Morphology, Age, and Growth in the Aegean Sea (E. Mediterranean)

Otoliths are important structures for balance and hearing of fish and constitute a useful tool in fisheries science. This study provides, for the first time in the Mediterranean, information on the otolith morphometrics of , collected from the South Aegean Sea, and enriches the existing information...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2024-11, Vol.14 (21), p.3151
Main Authors: Legaki, Aglaia, Leonhard, Isabella, Mytilineou, Chryssi, Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
aging
Females
Fish
Fisheries
Frequency distribution
growth parameters
Males
Morocco dentex
Morphology
otolith morphometrics
Sexes
Variables
weight–length relationship
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Otoliths are important structures for balance and hearing of fish and constitute a useful tool in fisheries science. This study provides, for the first time in the Mediterranean, information on the otolith morphometrics of , collected from the South Aegean Sea, and enriches the existing information on its age and growth by sex. The otolith shape variables examined showed a more circular to square otolith shape, related to the body size. Significant differences between sexes were detected for the otolith , , and . Exponential regressions were used to examine the relationship of the otolith variables with total body length, from which five showed a strong correlation ( , , , and ). The eviscerated weight-length relationship exhibited an isometric growth for both sexes, whereas when total weight was applied, a positive allometric growth was found for females. Sagittal otolith readings revealed four age groups for females and five for males. A Bhattacharya method was used for age validation. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were as follows: = 23.08, = 0.27, = -1.93 for females and = 24.07, = 0.24, = -2.26 for males. This research offers valuable biological information for useful in fisheries science.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani14213151