Abstract.A study of otolith aging and growth-rate variation in the flyingfish Hirundichthys affinis (Giinther) was conducted in the eastern Caribbean (10 -16 ~ 58-62 ~ in 1987Caribbean (10 -16 ~ 58-62 ~ in -1989. Daily otolith-increment formation was validated in laboratory-reared larvae, confirming the usefulness of otolith-increment counts for age determination of H. affinis juveniles (<150mm fork length, FL). A mark-recapture programme to validate increment formation in wild adults was unsuccessful due to tetracycline-linked mortality and insufficient tetracycline uptake in slow-growing adult otoliths. A von Bertalanffy growth curve fitted to juvenile size-at-age data gave preliminary growth-curve parameters of t o = 2.85 d and k = 0.00854 on a daily basis, with an asymptotic length, L~o , of 245 mm FL, for eastern Caribbean flyingfish.Juvenile growth rate in H. affinis is sensitive to spatial and temporal variation in temperature. Growth rates were higher where sea-surface temperatures were higher, and were higher for juveniles hatched in warmer months (April-July) than in colder months (NovemberMarch). Growth rates were also higher near islands than at more oceanic locations. Variation in juvenile growth rates may influence the spatial and temporal variation in spawning frequency observed in H. affinis.
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