Age, growth and mortality of common two-banded seabream, Diplodus vulgaris (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), in the eastern Adriatic Sea (Croatian coast)

Abstract

Age, growth and mortality were analysed for the common two-banded seabream, Diplodus vulgaris, collected in the eastern Adriatic (Croatian coast) from commercial fishery catches by ‘tramata’ fishing (2005–2006) to obtain growth estimation. The oldest female was estimated to be age 11, the oldest male age 10 years. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters estimated by reading scales were: L∞ = 48.60 cm (SE = 1.101), K = 0.112 (SE = 0.005) and t0 = −2.366 (SE = 0.060) for all specimens ; L∞ = 51.96 cm (SE = 2.153), K = 0.095 (SE = 0.007) and t0 = −2.837 (SE = 0.120) for females and L∞ = 56.25 cm (SE = 2.662), K = 0.084 (SE = 0.067) and t0 = −2.920 (SE = 0.117) for males. The overall sex ratio was 1.22 : 1 in favour of males. Total mortality, corresponding to the slope of the descending limb of the catch curve, was Z = 0.81 per year for females and Z = 0.85 per year for males. Exploitation ratios were E = 0.68 for females and E = 0.73 for males.