The study aimed at identifying spawning season and potential year classes reaching maturity in the north-eastern Mediterranean, an area where little information on tuna spawning is available. Gonads (60 ovaries and 36 testis) were obtained from little tunny, Euthynnus alletteratus. The fish were caught between
In this study, a total of 87 swordfish were collected from the Aegean Sea and northern Levantine Sea. The range of the lower jaw fork length was 99.0 to 161.0 cm (mean 15.45 cm) for males and 87.0 to 188.5 cm (mean 26.02 cm) for females. Females were slightly more numerous than males (39 males and 48 females). The estimated sex ratio was calculated as 1.23. The maximum value of gonadsomatic index (GSI) for the males (2.16) and females (10.09) were observed in June and May respectively. High GSI value which were observed in May (10.09) indicated that the female reproductive cycle started depends on the size of the individuals. In the present study, the length-weight relationship was calculated as W = 1x10-6 L 3, 4627 , R 2 = (0.95). The coefficient "b" was close to positive allometric values (b = 3.46). Total of 48 anal spines (25 males and 23 females) were examined. The ages varied from 1 to 7 and the maximum age was determined as 7. Two-year-old fish were dominant (35.4%).
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