Age and growth of the small red scorpionfish, Scorpaena notata Rafinesque, 1810, based on whole and sectioned otolith readings

Abstract

Age and growth of Scorpaena notata from the northern Adriatic Sea were investigated by annual growth increment counts (annuli). Overall, age and growth were estimated from 538 specimens of S. notata ranging between 47 and 199 mm TL. No clear sexual dimorphism in size was observed. Annual deposition of annuli and location of the first annulus have been validated by edge analysis and daily growth increment counts, respectively. The estimated age range was between 0-16 years for female and 0-14 years for males. The estimated values of Von Bertalanffy asymptotic length L 1 (cm) and k (years −1 ) were 16.3 and 0.46 for males and 15.6 and 0.35 for females. Thus, males of S. notata appeared to attain a slightly larger size at faster rate than females. The growth performance index ranged between 1.9 and 2.1, which is in the middle of the range observed in other scorpaenids. Comparing ageing data of S. notata with other Mediterranean scorpaenids, a direct relationship between fish size and growth performance was observed.

New records and underwater observation of the rare fishScorpaenodes arenai(Osteichthyes: Scorpaenidae) from the central and western Mediterranean Sea

“…The deposition pattern of annuli in this species is similar to that observed in other Mediterranean Scorpaeniformes, such as Helicolenus dactylopterus (Consoli et al 2010), S. maderensis (La Mesa et al 2005) and S. notata (Scarcella et al 2011).…”

Age and growth of stone scorpionfish (Scorpaena mystes) from the Gulf of California in Mexico

“…The relationship between OR and TL of stone scorpionfish in our study was linear and statistically significant, indicating that these measurements have a relation of proportionality and that the OR may be a predictor of fish length. This relationship has been reported for other species of Scorpaena, such as the Madeira rockfish (La Mesa et al, 2005) and small red scorpionfish (Scarcella et al, 2011).…”

Trophic relationships among scorpaeniform fishes associated with gas platforms

“…Such intervals were identified taking into account the size at which each species undergoes sexual maturity: (1) S. notata undergoes maturity at about 10-14 cm L T (Scarcella et al 2011b); (2) C. lucerna starts maturing at sizes [180 mm L T (Montanini et al 2008;Morte et al 1997). The specimens of S. porcus collected in our study, except for only one specimen of 90 mm L T , exceeded the size at first maturity reported in literature (i.e.…”