Maturity and growth of marbled sole, pseudopleuronectes yokohamae in the west sea of korea

Abstract

We determined the maturity and growth of the Marbled sole, Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae based on monthly sampling in the West Sea of Korea from February 2009 to December 2010. Determination of sex of P. yokohamae was by gonadal inspection, and age and growth were determined by analyzing the otolith. The biological minimum size of P. yokohamae female was 24.5 cm. The seasonal changes in the ratio of a translucent zone to an opaque zone revealed that the end of the translucent zone of the otolith were annuli formed in May once a year. We compared 8 type growth equations with several length-at-age data. By using the length-at-monthly age data of these, the calculated von Bertalanffy growth equations were Lt = 41.7(1 − e−0.47(t + 0.24)) for females and Lt = 32.7(1 − e−0.75(t + 0.01)) for males. We estimated that 24.5 cm was the total length of 2 year old P. yokohamae spawns in the cold water season from January to April, and grows to 8 years old for females and 6 years old for males in the West Sea of Korea. © 2018, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute. All rights reserved.