Wintner and Cliff Age and growth determination of Carcharhmus limbatus 



137 



The clarity of the growth rings seemed to be af- 

 fected by storage method. The rings in fresh, frozen, 

 or alcohol-stored vertebrae were clearer (especially 

 with the UT method) than those stored dry. Fixation 

 in formalin, despite its decalcifying properties, did 

 not appear to affect band clarity adversely. 



The growth curves obtained for males and females 

 from each of the four methods were visually very 



similar; those obtained with the UT method are given 

 in Figure 1. The VBGP for each sex are given in Table 

 1. Because no significant difference between the sexes 

 was found with the UT, BT, CV, or ALL methods 

 (ANCOVA, P>0.52, P>0.95, P>0.43, P>0.91, respec- 

 tively), the data were combined. The growth curves 

 for the four different methods were also visually very 

 similar (Fig. 2). The BT method had the worst good- 



200 



Females 

 Males 



1 2 3 4 5 6 7; 

 Age (yr) 



10 11 12 13 14 



Figure 1 



Von Bertalanffy growth curves for male(x) and female (•) blaektip shark, 

 C. limbatus. Age estimates were obtained by examination of unstained 

 vertebrae with transmitted light lUT method). 



