Age, growth and mortality of the Mediterranean amberjack Seriola dumerili (Risso 1810) from the south-eastern Adriatic Sea

The age, growth and mortality of the Mediterranean amberjack Seriola dumeri li (Risso 1810) were determined in 298 specimens collected in the south-eas tern Adriatic Sea (Donji Molunat Bay) from 17 May to 26 June 1997. The tota l length ranged from 32.0 to 160.0 cm and weight from 0.5 to 46.5 kg, Ten a ge classes, ranging from 1 degrees to 10 degrees years were defined by scal e readings. Mean total length and weight-at-age data were used to estimate the growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy equation: L-infinity = 174.6 c m, K = 0.190, t(o) = -0.314; W-infinity = 79.01 kg, K= 0.139 and t(o) = -0. 746. The length-weight relationship was estimated at: W = 0.000123 x L-2.84 7, The overall sex ratio was 1 : 1.06 in favour of males. Total (Z) and nat ural (M) mortality were found to be 0.41 years(-1) and 0.30 years(-1), resp ectively. The exploitation ratio (E=0.27) indicates that the fishing pressu re on the Mediterranean amberjack was low in the investigated region.