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Estimation of Age and Growth of the Longbill Spearfish (Tetrapturus Pfluegeri) in the Western Atlantic Ocean

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Estimation of Age and Growth of the Longbill Spearfish (Tetrapturus Pfluegeri) in the Western Atlantic Ocean SCRS/2014/068 Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 71(5): 2262-2276 (2015) ESTIMATION OF AGE AND GROWTH OF THE LONGBILL SPEARFISH (TETRAPTURUS PFLUEGERI) IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN Maite Pons1,2, Freddy Arocha3, Andrés Domingo1, David J. Die4, Alejandro Brazeiro5, Fabio Hazin6 SUMMARY The age and growth of the longbill spearfish, Tetrapturus pfluegeri, was estimated using transversal cuts from the third spine of the anal fin. Also, the structure and periodicity of annuli formation were validated for this species. The samples used were collected in a large zone of the Western Atlantic between 25ºN and 40ºS, obtained on the artisanal gillnet and commercial longline fleets of Venezuela and commercial longline fleets from Brazil and Uruguay. This is the first growth estimates for the longbill spearfish and the results showed that the third spine of the anal fin in this species is suitable for age and growth studies. An annual periodicity in the formation of growth bands was observed and, like most of billfish species, was characterized by having very fast growth in the early years of life (k = 0.52 years-1, L∞ =175 cm and t0 = - 1.26). No differences in growth rates between sexes were observed and the parameters estimated for the longbill spearfish were within the range of parameters reported for species within the same family in the Atlantic Ocean like white marlin and sailfish. RÉSUMÉ L'âge et la croissance des makaires bécunes (Tetrapturus pfluegeri) ont été estimés à l'aide de coupes transversales de la troisième épine de la nageoire anale. En outre, la structure et la périodicité de la formation des anneaux ont été validées pour cette espèce. Les échantillons utilisés ont été recueillis dans une vaste zone de l'Atlantique occidental entre 25ºN et 40ºS, obtenus des flottilles artisanales opérant au filet maillant et des flottilles commerciales palangrières du Venezuela et des flottilles palangrières commerciales du Brésil et de l'Uruguay. Il s'agit des premières estimations de croissance pour le makaire bécune et les résultats ont montré que la troisième épine de la nageoire anale chez cette espèce est adéquate pour les études de l'âge et de croissance. Une périodicité annuelle dans la formation des anneaux de croissance a été observée et, comme la plupart des espèces d'istiophoridés, a été caractérisée par une croissance très rapide dans les premières années de vie (k = 0,52 années- 1, L∞ = 175 cm et t0 =- 1,26). Aucune différence dans les taux de croissance entre les sexes n'a été observée et les paramètres estimés pour le makaire bécune se sont inscrits dans la gamme des paramètres signalés pour les espèces au sein de la même famille dans l'océan Atlantique, comme le makaire blanc et les voiliers. RESUMEN Se estimó la edad y el crecimiento de la aguja picuda, Tetrapturus pfluegeri, utilizando cortes transversales de la tercera espina de la aleta anal. Además, se validó, para esta especie, la estructura y periodicidad de la formación de anillos. Las muestras utilizadas se recogieron en una amplia zona del Atlántico occidental, entre 25ºN y 40ºS, obtenidas por las flotas de redes de enmalle artesanales y de palangre comercial de Venezuela y por las flotas de palangre comercial de Brasil y Uruguay. Esta es la primera estimación de crecimiento de la aguja picuda y los resultados demostraron que la tercera espina de la aleta anal en esta especie es 1 Laboratorio de Recursos Pelágicos, Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos, Constituyente 1497, CP 11200, Montevideo, Uruguay 2 Centro de Investigación y Conservación Marina (CICMAR), www.cicmar.org , Uruguay. 3 Instituto Oceanográfico de Venezuela, Departamento de Biología Pesquera, Lab. 29, Universidad de Oriente, Av. Universidad, Cerro Colorado, Edif. Instituto Oceanográfico, Cumaná 6101, Venezuela. 4 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149, USA. 5 Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay. 6 Laboratorio de Oceanografia Pesqueira (LOP) - Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura- (DEPAq) - Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE). Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros,s/n, Recife, PE, CEP 52171-900, Brazil. 2262 adecuada para estudios de edad y crecimiento. Se observó una periodicidad anual en la formación de bandas de crecimiento y, al igual que la mayoría de los istiofóridos, se caracterizaba por tener un crecimiento muy rápido en los primeros años de vida (k = 0,52 años-1, L∞ =175 cm y t0 = -1,26). No se observaron diferencias en las tasas de crecimiento entre sexos y los parámetros estimados para la aguja picuda se encontraban dentro del rango de parámetros comunicados para especies de la misma familia en el océano Atlántico, como la aguja blanca y el pez vela. KEYWORDS Longbill Spearfish, Age estimation, Spines, Von Bertalanffy growth model 1. Introduction The longbill spearfish, Tetrapturus pfluegeri (Robins and De Sylva, 1963) is a highly migratory species widely distributed in tropical, subtropical, and temperate oceanic waters of the Atlantic Ocean, between 40º N and 40º S (Nakamura, 1985; Domingo et al., 2009). It is one of the smallest billfish species with a maximum reported size of 207 cm fork length (Coutinho et al., 2010). It is a top predator (Vaske Junior et al., 2004; Satoh et al., 2004) and a batch spawner that spawns in separate discrete events in tropical waters of both hemispheres (De Sylva and Breder, 1997). In the central South Atlantic Ocean, Ueyanagi et al. (1970) found a high concentration of spawning females and larvae from January to March between 10 º and 20 º S. However, in the Venezuela Basin, Arocha et al. (2007) found high concentrations of spawning females with high gonadal index and hydrated oocytes between June and August. The reproductive size of females was estimated at 150 cm fork length by Arocha et al. (2007) in the central North Atlantic, but results from Couthino et al. (2010) over the southwestern Atlantic suggest that females may reach maturity at lower sizes. There is still great uncertainty about the biology, ecology and life history parameters of the longbill spearfish since few studies have focused on this species. The longbill spearfish is caught as by-catch by different recreational, artisanal and industrial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean (Arocha et al., 2007). However, there are no studies regarding the status of their populations; probably because it is the least commonly caught species among billfishes in the tuna and swordfish fisheries. Moreover, the catches of this species have been historically combined with those of sailfish in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) databases, although, efforts have been made to separate them with some catch estimates being presently available for this species (Anon, 2009, 2010). For management purposes ICCAT consider that there are two stocks for both sailfish and longbill spearfish in the Atlantic Ocean, one eastern and one western, despite there are no specific studies on stock structure for longbill spearfish (Graves and McDowell, 2003). Stock assessments performed by ICCAT in the Atlantic Ocean, for white marlin, Kajikia albidus, and blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, indicated that these stocks are currently overfished (Anon., 2012, 2013) and that it is likely that the two stocks of sailfish are also overfished (Anon., 2010). However, ICCAT has repeatedly highlighted that these assessments have a high degree of uncertainty because of the lack of biological information and uncertainty in basic fishery data on catch and fishing effort (Anon., 2003, 2010, 2012, 2013). Age and growth studies are of particular relevance for stock assessments as they provide information for the estimation of mortality rates and stock productivity which are the basis of stock status evaluations (Haddon, 2001). A comparative study between calcified structures (otoliths and fin spines) in the blue marlin showed that spines provided a more accurate estimation of age and are easier to collect than otoliths (Hill et al., 1989; Prince et al., 1988). Several studies have also used fin spines for age estimation in swordfish Xiphias gladius (Ehrhardt, 1992; Tserpes and Tsimenides, 1995; Sun et al., 2002; Arocha et al., 2003), black marlin Makaira indica (Speare, 2003), white marlin (Drew et al., 2007), striped marlin Kajikia audax (Melo-Barrera et al., 2003; Kopf et al., 2011) and sailfish Istiophorus platypterus (Hoolihan, 2006). However, no such studies have been done to date on the longbill spearfish. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide the first growth estimates for this species in the western Atlantic Ocean. The study was specifically aimed to validate the structure and periodicity of annuli formation in anal fin spines, assigned the age to each individual, and to estimate sex specific growth curves. 2263 2. Materials and methods 2.1 Samples collection Spines from 497 longbill spearfish were collected by scientific observer’s onboard longline vessels from Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela fisheries, and also at landings sites of the longline and gillnet fleets from Venezuela. Samples were collected from a wide area of the western Atlantic Ocean between 22ºN and 36ºS during the period 2003-2011 (Figure 1). Although the study covered 9 years of sampling, inter-annual variations in growth were not considered due to low sample size obtained for each year. To estimate the age and growth of sampled individuals, the third anal fin spine was removed after the species was identified visually and sex determined by gonadal examination (Drew et al. 2006a). Each specimen was measured to the nearest centimeter in a straight line from the tip of the lower jaw to the fork of the tail (Lower Jaw Fork Length - LJFL). The spines were stored on ice or frozen until laboratory processing. 2.2 Spines processing At the laboratory, the excess of tissue was removed from each spine using a bath in warm water (less than 70ºC) and then dried in an oven at approximately 60ºC for 24 hours.
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