Age, Growth, and Mortality of the Little Skate off the Northeast Coast of the United States

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Abstract
Age, growth, mortality and yield per recruit of the little skate R. erinacea in the Georges Bank-Delaware Bay region were investigated from trawl-survey data collected during 1968-1978. Eight age groups were observed in the population. The parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth equation are asymptotic length L.infin. = 52.73 cm; growth coefficient K = 0.352; and hypothetical age at zero length t0 = 0.449 years. The length-weight relationship for both sexes combined over seasons is log10W = -2,641 + 3,229 log10L, where length (L) is in centimeters and weight (W) is in grams. Estimates of total instantaneous mortality rates (Z) for fully recruited ages (age 5 and older) ranged from 0.54-1.76 between 1968 and 1978. Natural-mortality values (M) ranged from 0.4-0.5; fishing-mortality values (F) ranged from 0.14-1.36, depending on the value of M assumed.