Kwok; Age and growth of Tiichiurus spp 



755 



T leplurus :OW = 6.3533 + 5.2913 Age 



T. nanhaiensis :OW = 6.3921 + 3.6850 Age 



Figure 6 



Regression model between otolith weight and age for Trichiurus spp. Solid line 

 (regression line) and crosses (raw data): T. lepturus. Dotted line (regression line) 

 and circles (raw data): T. nanhaiensis. 



The linear relation between otolith weight and age (Fig. 

 6) indicates that cutlassfish otoliths continuously increase 

 in weight with age. The regression models explain 72% 



and 76% of the variance for T. lepturus and T. rian- 

 haiejisis, respectively, comparable to the von Bertalanffy 

 growth model in preanal length. Thus, otolith weight pro- 



