Comparison between Otoliths and Length Based Ageing and Growth of African Armoured Searobin (Peristedion cataphractum L. 1758; Teleostei, Peristediidae) off the Southern Coasts of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea)

Table 4

Estimated parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) for Peristedion cataphractum off the southern coasts of Sicily (central Mediterranean).

Sex category		Otolith reading				Back-calculation
					MSE				MSE
F	514	362	0.19	1.28	405.7	347	0.21	0.89	477.5
M	212	348	0.17	2.16	392.1	339	0.19	1.66	390
JF	565	342	0.22	0.93	434.0	315	0.29	0.41	444.6
JM	263	313	0.28	0.60	427.5	302	0.34	0.19	401.2
M + F	726	336	0.22	1.08	409.1	329	0.24	0.77	435.4
M + F + J	828	321	0.26	0.76	434.2	306	0.32	0.31	432.1

= number; F = females; M = males; JF = unsexed juveniles plus females; JM unsexed juveniles plus males; = theoretical maximum (asymptotic) total length; = growth coefficient; = theoretical age at zero length; MSE = mean square error.