Age and Growth of the Snake Fish Trachinocephalus myops (Forster 1801) in Tateyama Bay, East Japan, Using Otolith Ring Marks

The snake fish Trachinocephalus myops (Forster 1801) is a commercial target, and its meat might provide an alternative material for fish paste in the future. This study reports on the relationships between otolith morphometry, age, and growth rate of T. myops in Tateyama Bay, and estimates of the growth parameters for the species around this coastal area in Japan. Monthly changes in the marginal growth rate and the frequency of the opaque zones indicated that the otolith edge of the opaque zone is formed once a year around June. The estimated ages of the sampled fish ranged from 2 to 11 years. The spawning season, estimated by the monthly changes in the gonadosomatic index, was August and September. The relationship between fork length (L; mm FL) and age (t; year) was expressed by the von Bertalanffy growth curve as: male: Lt = 378.1(1 − exp (−0.236(t- (−0.80))))female: Lt = 423.7(1 − exp (−0.247(t − (−0.66)))) This relationship suggested that the body is larger in the female than in the male.