GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION OF BOOPS BOOPS, DENTEX MACROPHTHALMUS, DIPLODUS VULGARIS, AND PAGELLUS ACARNE (ACTINOPTERYGII: PERCIFORMES: SPARIDAE) FROM EAST-CENTRAL AEGEAN SEA, TURKEY

Background. The bogue, Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758); large-eye dentex, Dentex macrophthalmus (Bloch, 1791); common two-banded seabream, Diplodus vulgaris (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817); and axillary seabream, Pagellus acarne (Risso, 1827) are four commercially important sparid species which are distributed in the Mediterranean. Although they are very common in the Mediterranean, information regarding; growth, length at first maturity, and age are scarce and variable. This study provides some of the first data on the above-mentioned biological parameters of these four sparid species for the Turkish coasts of the Aegean Sea (Mediterranean). The aim of the present study is to expand our knowledge on the biology of these commercial sparid species from the Aegean Sea.