Molina et al.: Age and growth of Mustelus schmitti 
371 
Table 2 
Mean length at age of male and female narrownose smooth-hound ( Mustelus schmitti ) collected in 2008 in Anegada Bay, 
Argentina, according to vertebral readings. Fish lengths are given as total lengths (TLs) in centimeters, with standard errors 
(SEs). Back-calculation methods are used to describe the growth history (lengths at previous ages) of each individual fish 
sampled, providing a much larger sample size to perform modeling of growth to compare with growth from the observed data. 
Age 
Observed data 
Back-calculated data 
Females 
Males 
Females 
Males 
n 
Mean TL 
SE 
n 
Mean TL 
SE 
n 
Mean TL 
SE 
n 
Mean TL 
SE 
0 
2 
364.5 
44.6 
7 
348.3 
50.2 
247 
372.0 
35.7 
237 
369.4 
37.2 
1 
26 
396.7 
38.4 
22 
390.8 
43.1 
223 
437.3 
48.4 
187 
440.2 
46.5 
2 
24 
451.2 
54.9 
17 
451.1 
39.5 
175 
498.1 
50.9 
145 
495.4 
47.0 
3 
13 
489.7 
63.4 
20 
504.5 
40.3 
142 
540.9 
52.6 
110 
530.2 
46.8 
4 
10 
522.4 
49.0 
14 
551.9 
40.2 
126 
572.3 
48.8 
75 
559.1 
45.3 
5 
10 
553.1 
62.6 
9 
570.3 
39.3 
100 
591.9 
49.6 
66 
582.1 
46.3 
6 
11 
584.0 
43.4 
8 
576.1 
51.5 
87 
616.6 
55.1 
39 
596.9 
45.9 
7 
10 
587.3 
50.2 
5 
601.6 
47.2 
63 
639.5 
51.4 
24 
625.2 
43.7 
8 
6 
618.3 
45.0 
5 
615.8 
27.2 
41 
654.6 
46.2 
19 
658.9 
64.0 
9 
9 
634.7 
38.9 
3 
661.0 
48.5 
24 
692.4 
51.5 
12 
681.6 
50.9 
10 
9 
687.8 
35.0 
1 
669.0 
14 
733.7 
45.8 
2 
718.7 
86.9 
11 
3 
755.7 
61.2 
1 
791.0 
2 
761.0 
0.0 
2 
791.0 
0.0 
° 1 
01 23456789 10 11 
Age estimated by reader 1 
Figure 5 
Differences in estimated ages (in years) for 2 readers of vertebrae of narrownose 
smooth-hound ( Mustelus schmitti) caught in Anegada Bay, Argentina, in 2008. 
The dashed line represents total agreement of the readers, and the dots indicate 
differences between readers for individuals of each age, with darker shading 
representing a greater number of individuals. The short, black horizontal dashes 
represent the mean ages of individuals in each age class, and the vertical lines 
represent the standard deviations of the means. 
