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Age and growth of the bigeye thresher shark, Alopias superciliosus, from the pelagic longline fisheries in the tropical northeastern Atlantic Ocean, determined by vertebral band counts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2011

Joana Fernandez-Carvalho ,
Rui Coelho ,
Karim Erzini  and
Miguel Neves Santos
Joana Fernandez-Carvalho*
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos IP/IPIMAR, Av. 5 Outubro s/n, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal
Rui Coelho
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos IP/IPIMAR, Av. 5 Outubro s/n, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
Karim Erzini
Affiliation:
Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
Miguel Neves Santos
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos IP/IPIMAR, Av. 5 Outubro s/n, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal
*
aCorresponding author: jcarvalho@ipimar.pt
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Abstract

The bigeye thresher, Alopias supercilious,is commonly caught as bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries targetingswordfish. Little information is yet available on the biology ofthis species, however. As part of an ongoing study, observers sentaboard fishing vessels have been collecting set of information thatincludes samples of vertebrae, with the aim of investigating ageand growth of A. supercilious. A total of 117 specimenswere sampled between September 2008 and October 2009 in the tropicalnortheastern Atlantic, with specimens ranging from 101 to 242 cmfork length (FL) (176 to 407 cm total length). The A. supercilious vertebraewere generally difficult to read, mainly because they were poorlycalcified, which is typical of Lamniformes sharks. Preliminary trialswere carried out to determine the most efficient band enhancementtechnique for this species, in which crystal violet section stainingwas found to be the best methodology. Estimated ages in this sampleranged from 2 to 22 years for females and 1 to 17 years for males.A version of the von Bertalanffy growth model (VBGF) re-parameterisedto estimate L0, and a modified VBGF using a fixed L0 were fittedto the data. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) was used tocompare these models. The VBGF produced the best results, with thefollowing parameters: Linf = 293 cm FL, k = 0.06 y–1 and L0 = 111 cmFL for females Linf = 206 cm FL, k = 0.18 y–1 and L0 = 93 cm FLfor males. The estimated growth coefficients confirm that A. supercilious isa slow-growing species, highlighting its vulnerability to fishingpressure. It is therefore urgent to carry out more biological researchto inform fishery managers more adequately and address conservationissues.

Keywords

Age and growthVertebraePelagic longline fisheriesBycatchsharkLamniformesAlopiidaeNE Atlantic Ocean
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 359 - 368
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2011

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