Revised Estimates of Age and Growth of the Sandbar Shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) from the Western North Atlantic

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Age and growth of the sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) were determined from tag and recapture data covering a 26-yr period (1964–90). Results were compared with previously published age and growth estimates based primarily on rings in vertebrae. Recent long-term tag returns suggest that the sandbar shark grows much slower than previously proposed and may take nearly 30 yr to reach maturity. Revised von Bertalanffy parameters (sexes combined) are L∞ = 186, k = 0.046, and t0 = −6.45. The limitations of ageing elasmobranchs solely from rings in vertebrae and the need for validating rings in hardparts of fishes are discussed.