Stequert et al Age and growth of Thunnus albacares 



133 



o 



180 

 150 

 120 

 90 

 60 

 30 

 



8 



« ibula el al (I960) 

 Hennemulh(1961) 

 Huang clal (1971) 

 Le Guen and Sakagaw 

 Gascue! el al (1992) 

 Present study 



365 



730 



1095 



1460 



1825 



365 



730 



1095 



1460 



365 



730 



1095 



1460 



1825 



2190 



Age (d) 



Figure 1 1 



Comparisons of yellowfin tuna, Thunhus albacares, growth curves 

 established by several investigators: (Al Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 

 with different age estimation methods; (B) otolith daily incre- 

 ment readings; (C) Indian Ocean with different methods of age 

 estimation. 



events and the change in otolith growth direction ( Dl- 

 D2 boundary). Regular samplings of small individuals 

 and the analysis of daily microincrements could avoid 

 difficult interpretations in the length-frequency analy- 

 ses during the first months of growth. 



Acknowledgments 



The sampling in this study was financially supported 

 by the Association Thoniere (Indian Ocean Commis- 



sion), and otolith preparation and data analy- 

 sis by the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Ma- 

 rine Biology and Coastal Research (Univ. of 

 South Carolina, SC). Special thanks are also 

 due to Alex Wild of the Inter- American Tropi- 

 cal Tuna Commission, La Jolla, CA, for his 

 assistance with the acetate-replica otolith 

 preparations and age readings and to Charles 

 Wilson at Louisiana State University, Baton 

 Rouge, LA, for his hospitality. We wish to ac- 

 knowledge the three anonymous reviewers 

 for their constructive comments on our manu- 

 script. 



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