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Age, growth and maturation of the loliginid squids Alloteuthis africana and A. Subulata on the west African shelf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Alexander Arkhipkin
Affiliation:
Atlantic Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (AtlantNIRO), 5 Dmitry Donskoy Street, Kaliningrad, 236000, Russia
Nataly Nekludova
Affiliation:
Atlantic Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (AtlantNIRO), 5 Dmitry Donskoy Street, Kaliningrad, 236000, Russia

Extract

Samples of two loliginid squids Alloteuthis africana and A. subulata were collected from the continental shelf off the west Sahara in August-September 1987. Statoliths were taken from 124 specimens and processed using statolith ageing techniques. Statoliths of both species were very similar in shape. In the ground statolith, growth increments were examined and grouped into four growth zones distinguished mainly by the width of the increments. Age of adult mature males of both species did not exceed eight months, that of females six months. Alloteuthis africana grew faster than A. subulata in weight and, particularly, in length. At age 180 d the mantle of A. africana was twice as long and the body weight 1·2–1·5 times as large. Both species matured over a wide range of sizes and ages (from 120 to 180 d). The life span of A. africana and A. subulata hatching between January and May on the west Saharan shelf is about six months, much shorter than that of A. subulata in its northern temperate range.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1993

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