Age, growth and mortality in Buccinanops globulosus (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) from Golfo Nuevo (Argentina)

Abstract

Buccinanops globulosus is a commercially exploited gastropod common in coastal waters of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. We determined the age and estimated growth and mortality rates of B. globulosus in a population from Golfo Nuevo (Patagonia, Argentina). Age was determined by counting opercular rings and growth was described by the von Bertalanffy function fitted to data of length-at-age. Mortality rate (Z) was estimated by the linearized catch curve method. The maximum age was determined at 8 years. Growth parameters estimated for the whole population were TSL _∞ =37.87 mm, k=0.33 year⁻¹ and t ₀=−0.65 year. Likelihood ratio tests indicated significant differences in asymptotic length and fitted growth models between sexes. Annual mortality rate (the first reported for the species) was estimated to be 0.34 year⁻¹ (0.49–0.20). Information on growth parameters of B. globulosus showed that TSL _∞ and the index of overall growth performance of the population studied here were intermediate compared to previously studied populations, thus indicating site-specific growth differences. Taking into account that the most common management strategy in gastropod fisheries is the use of a minimum size limit (MSL), we suggest that fishery measurements such as MSL for this species should be established only for small geographical scales.

Keywords:

• Age
• growth
• mortality
• gastropod
• fishery management

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

We thank Kelo Camarero, Andrea Amestoy and Paula Zaidman. This research was supported by Project PID 371 (Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica) granted to Dr Raúl González, Maite Narvarte and Antonio Gagliardini.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark