Age, Growth and Reproduction of Tub Gurnard (Chelidonichthys lucerna L. 1758) in the Bay of İskenderun in the Eastern Mediterranean

Authors : Ali İŞMEN, Pınar İŞMEN

Pages : 289-295

View : 17 | Download : 7

Publication Date : 0000-00-00

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The age composition, growth parameters, spawning season, sex ratio, length at first sexual maturity and fecundity of tub gurnard insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Chelidonichthys lucerna); caught from the Bay of İskenderun in the eastern Mediterranean Sea were investigated. Females and males made up 58.2% and 41.8%, respectively, of the particular population of the species. The total length of females ranged from 8.0 cm to 30.3 cm, and of males from 8.3 cm to 21.2 cm. The length insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(L); - weight insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(W); relationships for males and females were estimated as W = 0.0089*L3.01 and W = 0.0095*L2.99, respectively. The age data derived from otolith readings were used to estimate the growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy equation. The estimated parameters were: L\infity = 45.0 cm, K = 0.221 and to = -0.581. The maximum age was 4 for females and 3 for males. The 1-year age group was dominant in both females and males. Males matured at a total length of 18 cm, while females matured at 20 cm. The monthly values of the gonadosomatic index indicated that spawning occurred mainly between December and May. The fecundity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(F); - length relationship was logF = -2.512 + 5.58logL insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(r = 0.94);.
Keywords : Bay of İskenderun, eastern Mediterranean, tub gurnard, age, growth, reproduction