A general model fitting coleoid cephalopod growth as a function of time and temperature to a single curve

Abstract

AbstractA novel general model has been developed to fit biomass growth data of coleoid cephalopods as a function of time and temperature from hatching to maximum size in a single curve. This model has been obtained formally from a formulation of product‐integral, solves the discontinuity problem present in two‐phase growth models and describes both asymptotic and non‐asymptotic growth. Within the usual temperature range in which the organism develops, our model describes a non‐asymptotic growth achieving a good fit with the experimental data . In particular, the model provides precise calculation of the time k at which the growth curve inflection occurs, time μ1 at which sexual maturity begins and time μ2 at which the maximum size is reached. When the model was parameterized as a function of temperature, it corroborated different results on Octopus maya fitness, in particular, 25.7°C was obtained as the temperature that generates the highest average growth rate and 21.7°C as the temperature with the highest biomass accumulation over time. This result confirms that the temperature range of 22–26°C is suitable for the growth of O. maya and shows that the developed model can be a useful tool for aquaculture.