Aspects of the early life history of European hake from the central Adriatic

During early development, the left and right sagittae of European hake Merluccius merluccius showed dimorphism in both size and shape due to the different number and size of accessory primordia. Juvenile hake reached the total length ( L _T) of 15 cm in c. 1 year, with monthly growth rates ranging from 1·6 cm month^-1 in the third month of life to 1·1 cm month^-1 towards the end of the first year. Back-calculated hatch-date distribution indicated continuous spawning with a peak in summer and a second, less evident, peak in February–March. The presence of early demersal juveniles (16–30 mm L _T, c. 40 days old) very close to the Pomo pit area (Central Adriatic Sea) at c. 140 m depths indicates that the change from the pelagic to the demersal phase takes place at c. 40 days close to the area of concentration of juveniles. The daily-increment hypothesis was validated indirectly.     

Otolith patterns of rockfishes from the northeastern pacific

Sagitta otolith shape was analysed in twenty sympatric rockfishes off the southern California coast (Northeastern Pacific). The variation in shape was quantified using canonical variate analysis based on fifth wavelet function decomposition of otolith contour. We selected wavelets because this representation allow the identifications of zones or single morphological points along the contour. The entire otoliths along with four subsections (anterior, ventral, posterodorsal, and anterodorsal) with morphological meaning were examined. Multivariate analyses (MANOVA) showed significant differences in the contours of whole otolith morphology and corresponding subsection among rockfishes. Four patterns were found: fusiform, oblong, and two types of elliptic. A redundancy analysis indicated that anterior and anterodorsal subsections contribute most to define the entire otolith shape. Complementarily, the eco‐morphological study indicated that the depth distribution and strategies for capture prey were correlated to otolith shape, especially with the anterodorsal zone. J. Morphol. 276:458–469, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Factors affecting mark quality of alizarin complexone-stained otoliths in juvenile black bream Acanthopagrus butcheri and a prescription for dosage

The relationships between otolith score, a function of increasing stain visibility, and the ratio of alizarin complexone (mg) to fish biomass (g) for 0·1, 0·6 and 7 g black bream Acanthopagrus butcheri show that acceptable marks are produced in all size classes using a stain-to-biomass ratio of 3·3 mg g⁻¹ following an immersion period of 24 h.