NOTE Roemer and Oliveira: Validation of back-calculation equations for luvenile Pomatomus sa/lotrix 



309 



and body growth is linear for juveniles. The Dahl-Lea 

 equation is the most parsimonious BCF equation and 

 best approximated the true growth rate of juvenile 

 bluefish, therefore making it the best suited method 

 for estimating growth rate during the juvenile phase 

 of this species. However it should be noted that the 

 linear model used to develop the BCFs may not hold 

 true for larval development or for annual growth of 

 adults; more complex models may be needed to accu- 

 rately estimate the amount of growth beyond year one. 

 Caution must also be used in applying the equation 

 because the lack of significant difference between the 

 Dahl-Lea-predicted lengths and true initial lengths 

 of the fish may have been due to the small sample 

 size. If the linear relationship between somatic and 

 otolith growth is, in fact, influenced by growth rate, 

 then the Dahl-Lea equation may prove to be useful in 

 back-calculating length for other fast-growing species 

 of fishes. 



Acknowledgments 



This research was funded by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service/CMER grant no. NOAA Ref. 

 NA04NMF4550380. We thank T. Rajaniemi for her 

 advice and assistance with statistical analysis and S. 

 Cadrin for reading an earlier draft of this manuscript. 



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