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Age, growth, maturity, and mortality of the Alaska skate, Bathyraja parmifera, in the eastern Bering Sea

  • Special Issue Skates
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Abstract

The Alaska skate, Bathyraja parmifera, is the most abundant species of skate on the eastern Bering Sea shelf, accounting for over 90% of total skate biomass. However, little is known regarding the life history of this species despite its common occurrence as bycatch in several Bering Sea fisheries. This is the first study to focus on the age and growth of B. parmifera. From 2003 to 2005, more than one thousand specimens were collected by fisheries observers and on scientific groundfish surveys. Annual banding patterns in more than 500 thin sections of vertebral centra were examined for age determination. Caudal thorns were tested as a potentially non-lethal ageing structure. Annual band pair deposition was verified through edge and marginal increment analyses. A three-parameter von Bertalanffy growth function and a Gompertz growth function were fit to observed length-at-age data. Both models provided significant fits, although the Gompertz function best described the overall pattern of growth in both males and females, based upon statistical criteria and parameter estimates. Age and size at 50% maturity were 9 years and 92 cm TL for males and 10 years and 93 cm TL for females. The maximum observed ages for males and females were 15 years and 17 years, respectively. Estimates of natural mortality (M) ranged from 0.14 to 0.28, and were based on published relationships between M and longevity, age at maturity, and the von Bertalanffy growth coefficient. Due to these life history characteristics and a lack of long-term species-specific stock data, a conservative management approach would be appropriate for B. parmifera.

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Notes

  1. G. Hoff. 2006. Personal communication, unpublished data. Alaska Fisheries Science Center, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, for providing technical support, laboratory space, and equipment. Special thanks go to the NPGOP for making seasonal collection possible. We gratefully acknowledge Christopher Gburski for his expertise in age and growth and Gerald Hoff for generously providing embryo size data. Many thanks to the scientists at the Pacific Shark Research Center, Moss Landing, CA, for providing invaluable age training and advice. We especially appreciate the efforts of David Ebert and James Sulikowski in arranging a special symposium, ‘Biology and systematics of skates: what do we really know?’ at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Elasmobranch Society in New Orleans, LA, and for making these proceedings possible. Lastly, we’d like to thank Dan Kimura, Christopher Gburski, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments regarding earlier versions of this manuscript. This publication is funded by the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) under NOAA Cooperative Agreement No. NA17RJ1232, Contribution #1334, as part of the NOAA Stock Assessment Improvement Plan (SAIP).

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  1. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Box 355020, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Mary Elizabeth Matta & Donald R. Gunderson

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  1. Mary Elizabeth Matta
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Correspondence to Mary Elizabeth Matta.

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Matta, M.E., Gunderson, D.R. Age, growth, maturity, and mortality of the Alaska skate, Bathyraja parmifera, in the eastern Bering Sea. Environ Biol Fish 80, 309–323 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9223-8

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