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Age and growth of grey triggerfish Balistes capriscus from trans-Atlantic populations
- Source :
- Journal of fish biologyREFERENCES. 98(4)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Anthropogenic factors that negatively impact reef fishes can include changes in life-history patterns of fisheries-targeted species. Understanding these impacts on growth and population age structure is essential in the management of exploited populations of fishes. This is the first study to directly compare age and growth for a major fisheries species between east and west populations of a transatlantic reef fish. The main goal of this study was to document age and growth in grey triggerfish Balistes capriscus from coastal waters of Ghana in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG) and compare those with the previous growth studies from that region and with the western Atlantic population. A secondary objective of this study was to evaluate the use of otoliths to age triggerfish and to provide a preliminary comparison with spine-derived age estimates. The results obtained from this study provided an updated understanding of the growth and age structure of the eastern B. capriscus population in GOG. The authors documented that shifts in population attributes occurred for B. capriscus after its major decline in abundance. The differences in physical and biotic characteristics of the East and West Atlantic regions and the differences in collection methods of samples make direct comparisons of growth parameters difficult. Nonetheless, overall differences in maximum sizes and ages were apparent; the western Atlantic population had a larger maximum size and older maximum age. The authors also documented that sagittal otoliths can be used to provide age estimates for triggerfish species, and otoliths as an ageing structure had better between-reader precision compared to dorsal spines.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Aging
Age structure
Coral reef fish
Population
Triggerfish
Grey triggerfish
Aquatic Science
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Animals
education
Reef
Atlantic Ocean
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Collection methods
geography
education.field_of_study
geography.geographical_feature_category
Balistes
biology
Coral Reefs
Tetraodontiformes
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
biology.organism_classification
Fishery
Animal Distribution
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10958649
- Volume :
- 98
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of fish biologyREFERENCES
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....aeb1101f87019095bcdf0eb9c6196a93