Age, growth and maturity in the chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus Houttuyn, 1782) from the Azores.

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho, Natacha
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Outros Autores: Perrotta, Ricardo G., Isidro, Eduardo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/169
• topic: Cavala; Chub Mackerel; Scomber japonicus; Açores; Azores

Sagittae from 349 specimens of chub mackerel collected between 1996 and 2002 were used in this study. Fork length ranged from 90 mm to 530 mm, corresponding to 9.6 mm and 56.57 mm TL ages ranged between 0 to 13 years. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was fitted to the length-at-age data and the estimated parameters were as follows: L∞ = 57.52 TL; k = 0.201 years-1; t0 = -1.093 years. Life span was estimated as being between 13 and 15.6 years and the instantaneous rate of natural mortality as 0.192. The spawning season in the Azores extends from March to August and length at 50% maturity was estimated as 27.78 cm TL (A50% = 2.23 years). Length-weight and length-length relationships were also determined: W = 0.0049FL3.2612; TL = 1.039 FL1.015; SL = 0.927FL 0.999.