Age and growth of the Bluemouth Rockfish,Helicolenus dactylopterus (Delaroche 1809) from the North-Eastern Uediterranean Sea,Turkey

In the recent study,age,growth and length-weight relationship of helicolenus dactylopterus (delaroche,1809) were investigated. a total of 525 specimens were collected from bottom-trawl research surveys and commercial trawl fishery along the southern continental slope of the iskenderun bay between june 2012 and may 2014. age was determined by reading whole sagittal otoliths. fish ranged from 9.3 to 20.9 cm in total length,which corresponded to fish between 1 to 8 years old. growth parameters were estimated using the standard von bertalanffy growth model (k=0.064,l∞=35.419 cm and to =-4.797 for combined sexes). length-weight relationships were estimated for females (w=0.0385l2.6645) and males (w=0.0345l2.7089). the low level of maximum length registered in this study could be related to high pressure level of trawl fishery during the last two decades in iskenderun bay. copyright © 2015 zoological society of pakistan.