Growth of the Silverside Atherinella brasiliensis in Tramandaí Estuary, Southern Brazil (Actinopterygii: Atherinopsidae)

Abstract

The growth of Atherinella brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) was studied through monthly samples taken at Tramandaí Lagoon, Imbé County, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Animals were captured using a beach seine net. Length-weight relationships and age-growth curves for males and females were adjusted. The growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth formulae are L inf =16.0 and k=0.883 for males and L inf =17.0 and k=0.825 for females. First reproduction occurred one year after recruitment. Once reaching maturity, adults of A. brasiliensis reproduced once more in the next spring with two-year-olds and disappeared soon after from size frequency distributions. A few captured animals showed a size compatible with an age of three years.O crescimento de Atherinella brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) foi estudado através de amostras mensais na laguna de Tramandaí, Imbé, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Os animais foram capturados com uma rede de arrasto de praia (picaré) de 15 m de comprimento, 3 m de altura e malha de 5 mm entre nós adjacentes. Relações peso/comprimento e curvas de crescimento em comprimento são ajustadas para machos e fêmeas. Os parâmetros da curva de crescimento de von Bertalanffy são L inf =16,0 e k=0,883 para machos e L inf =17,0 e k=0,825 para fêmeas. A primeira maturação ocorre um ano após o recrutamento. Uma vez atingida a maturidade, adultos de A. brasiliensis reproduzem mais uma vez na próxima primavera (com dois anos de idade) e desaparecem logo após nas distribuições de freqüências de comprimento. Poucos animais capturados apresentam tamanhos compatíveis com idade de três anos.

Growth of the silverside Atherinella brasiliensis in a subtropical estuary with some insights concerning the weight-length relationship

“…An estimated life span of 3.3 years is very similar to the one proposed by Bervian and Fontoura (2007;Males;A 95 =3.4;Females;A 95 =3.6) and that of the FishBase Life history tool (3.4 years). Nevertheless, very few individuals in a size compatible with a two year old fish (≈14 cm) and none with size in size predicted for three year old fish (≈16cm) were captured, although animals of this size have been reported in literature (Table I).…”

New approaches for growth improvement in pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis (Valenciennes, 1835) culture (Atherinomorpha: Atherinopsidae)

“…The results have demonstrated that the production of fish of average 18cm up to a maximum of 21.8cm TL in less than one year is totally feasible, breaking the traditional assumption that more than two years are required to reach a proper plate-size of 25 cm TL (Somoza et al 2008). This is in agreement with the high growth performance achieved by several atherinid species (Bervian & Fontoura, 2007) and even observed in wild pejerrey populations (Saint-Paul, 1987;Espinach Ros et al, 1998;Espinach Ros & Dománico, 2006;Freyre et al, 2008). Thus the maximum growth rates obtained in this study contributes to solve one of what was referred to as the "techno-scientific knowledge gaps in pejerrey aquaculture" (Somoza et al, 2008) through the development of speciesadapted culture.…”

Feeding ecology of the Brazilian silversideAtherinella brasiliensis(Atherinopsidae) in a sub-tropical estuarine ecosystem

“…It generally inhabits the shallow areas of bays and estuaries and may form large local populations. Although it has no commercial importance, this silverside may serve as a food fish for recreational anglers (Bervian & Fontoura, 2007) and local fishing communities, and is sometimes used as fish-bait in artisanal long-line fisheries (R. Contente, personal observation). Aspects of the reproductive biology, life history, growth, and population dynamics of A. brasiliensis have been well studied (Bemvenuti, 1990; Fávaro et al , 2003; Bervian & Fontoura, 2007; Fávaro et al , 2007; França et al , 2007).…”