Age and growth of the striped seabream, Lithognathus mormyrus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Sparidae), in the central coast of Algeria, Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Background. Striped seabream, Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758), is a bony fish, which has a high economic value on the Algerian coast. Because of the increasing fishing pressure, however, a close monitoring is recommended. The information about the biology of this species, occurring in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea and especially in the north African coast, is very limited. The presently reported study provides new estimated data on age and growth parameters of striped seabream in Algeria. Materials and methods. A total of 449 specimens of L. mormyrus were sampled for 2 years (January 2013 to December 2014) from the commercial fishery in the central part of the Algerian coast. The samples were collected monthly. The fish ranged in size from 11.5 cm to 34.5 cm and weighed between 21.6 g and 540.3 g. We analysed the sagittal otolith morphology and morphometry to determine a relation with the fish ontogeny. Fish age was determined from the sagittal otoliths to identify growth structures based on digitally processed otolith images aided by the TNPC software. Results. No significant difference between the two otoliths (left and right) was detected (ANCOVA, P ˃ 0.05). The correlation between each biometric parameter of the otolith (length and width) and fish length (TL) was significant (ANCOVA, P < 0.05). The evolution of marginal increment analysis (MI) showed that the annual periodicity of the growth ring was between July and December. The growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy model were estimated for each sex separately. In females they assumed the following values: TL ∞ = 35.44 cm, K = 0.27 yr-1 , and t 0 = −1.25 yr, while in males-TL ∞ = 26.94 cm and K = 0.6 yr-1 , t 0 = −0.45 yr. The asymptotic length was higher in females than in males. Males were represented only by small specimens and less than or equal to four years of age. Conclusion. The presently reported results are the first ones on the age and growth of L. mormyrus off the Algerian coast. They will hopefully improve future stock management to get a sustainable fishery.

The Length–Weight Relationship and Condition Factor of a Non-Native Fish Species: Striped Sea Bream (Lithognathus mormyrus L., 1758) in the Black Sea

“…The relationship between length and weight for this species shows that growth shows negative allometry (b = 2.9475) for combined sexes. Suau (1970) reported positive allometric growth (b = 3.43) in the study conducted from Spanish coasts, Kraljević et al, (1995) in the northern Adriatic isometric growth (b = 3.05) and in the central Adriatic negative allometric growth (b = 2.69), again Kraljević et al, (1996) from northern Adriatic reported isometric growth, Türkmen & Akyurt (2003) reported isometric growth (b=2.979) in their study conducted in Iskenderun Bay, Monteiro et al, (2010) from coasts of Portugal reported isometric growth (3.023), Sümer et al, (2014) reported isometric growth (2.999) from Antalya, Aydın (2017) reported negative allometry from the Black Sea (2.398) and Boufersaoui et al, (2018) reported isometric growth (3.094) from coasts of Algeria (Table 4). Even though isometric growth was reported by almost all the previous studies, there are some differences.…”

Ecosystem modelling in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea: Structure and functioning of a complex system

“…• Biomass • Medits, Dufour et al, 1995 • K andL∞ • Erguden et al, 2016;Hussein et al, 2011;Meti̇n et al, 2011;Nash, 1982 • Diet • Bell & Harmelin-Vivien, 1983;Cresson et al, 2014;Gibson & Ezzi, 1979 Akyol, 2001;Boufersaoui et al, 2018;Campillo, 1992;Duman & Basusta, 2013;Félix et al, 2011;Kaya & Başusta, 2016;Kozul et al, 2001;Matić-Skoko et al, 2011;Morales-Nin & Moranta, 1997;S. I. Rizkalla & Bakhoum, 2009;Valeiras, Macías, et al, 2008;Vassilopoulou & Papaconstantinou, 1992• Diet • Abdel-Aziz, 1994Campo et al, 2006;Capapé et al, 2007;Capezzuto et al, 2021;Matallanas et al, 1995;Morales-Nin & Moranta, 1997;Morato et al, 2001;Papaconstantinou & Caragitsou, 1989;S.…”

Age, growth and mortality of the striped seabream Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Gulf of Tunis (Central Mediterranean Sea)

“…Weight-length relationships were estimated for the striped seabream from the Mediterranean coast of Spain (Suau, 1970), Gokova Bay (Ceyhan et al, 2008), Adriatic Sea (Maci et al, 2009) and Gulf of Gabes (Ghailen et al, 2010). Reproduction and growth have been investigated in the western Mediterranean (Suau, 1970), northern and central Adriatic Sea (Kraljević et al, 1996), central-eastern Atlantic (Lorenzo et al, 2002;Pajuelo et al, 2002), Iskenderun Bay (Türkmen & Akyurt, 2003), coastal waters of the Thracian Sea (Kallianiotis et al, 2005), Beymelek Lagoon (Emre et al, 2010), south-eastern coast of Tunisia (Ben Abdallah-Ben Hadj Hamida et al, 2016) and in the central coast of Algeria (Boufersaoui et al, 2018).…”