Abstract
This study provides the first published age estimates for the roughtail skate, Bathyraja trachura. Age and growth characteristics of B. trachura, a poorly-known deepwater species, were determined from samples collected along the continental slope of the contiguous western United States. A new maximum size was established at 91.0 cm TL. Age was determined using a traditional structure (vertebral thin sections) with widespread application on multiple skate species and a non-lethal structure (caudal thorns) recently used for age analysis on skate species. Caudal thorns were determined not to be a useful ageing structure for this species based on poor precision and significantly lower age estimates when compared to age estimates from vertebral thin sections. The best model for describing growth of B. trachura was the two parameter VBGF, assuming annual vertebral band deposition and using length-at-age data. Although females grew slower and reached a larger maximum size than males, their growth was not statistically different (ARSS; P = 0.90); therefore, data were pooled (L∞ = 99.38, k = 0.09). Annual band deposition was found to be a reasonable assumption for this species, but has yet to be validated. The maximum age estimated for B. trachura was 20 years for males and 17 years for females using vertebral thin sections.
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Davis, C.D., Cailliet, G.M., Ebert, D.A. (2007). Age and growth of the roughtail skate Bathyraja trachura (Gilbert 1892) from the eastern North Pacific. In: Ebert, D.A., Sulikowski, J.A. (eds) Biology of Skates. Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes 27, vol 27. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9703-4_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9703-4_16
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