Growth, mortality and hatch-date distributions of striped sea bream Lithognathus mormyrus inhabiting the Canakkale Strait, Turkey

This paper studies age, growth and hatch date distributions of young of the year striped sea bream Lithognathus mormyrus from Canakkale near shores by using a beach seine during September 2006-December 2007. Using otolith microstructure analysis, a total of 416 specimens ranging from 20 to 103mm L-T were aged and found to be between 30 and 307 days old. Average growth rates were estimated to 0.325mmd(-1). The juvenile instantaneous mortality coefficient was found to be 0.0219, which corresponds to a daily mortality of 2.16%. The hatching period of the striped sea bream was determined to occur between April and January, with relatively higher hatching frequency in August.