Age and growth of the little Indian squid, Loliolus hardwickei (Gray, 1849) in the Arabian Sea

Abstract

Age and growth of the little Indian squid Loliolus hardwickei (Gray, 1849) were studied using samples collected in the coastal waters of Arabian Sea. Statolith increment counts demonstrated that L. hardwickei has a fast growth rate (dorsal mantle length: 0.31–0.73 mm day−1 in females and 0.27–0.56 mm day−1 in males) and a short lifespan of less than 6 months. Females are the larger sex and their daily growth rates were higher than in males. The oldest male and female were 110 and 130 days old; the youngest mature female and male were 62 and 52 days old respectively. The oviducal fecundity ranged from 104–480 eggs, mean = 360 eggs (14–23 eggs g−1 body weight).

Age, growth and maturation in the mesopelagic squid Abralia andamanica (Cephalopoda: Enoploteuthidae) from the Arabian Sea

“…The short lifespan is a characteristic feature of squids of tropical waters. A six-month life span has also been described for many ommastrephids in oceanic tropical waters (Arkhipkin 1996b, Arkhipkin et al 1998) and nearshore loliginid squids in the tropical waters (Jackson 2004, Jin et al 2019, Sajikumar et al 2019a). Sexual dimorphism is also reflected in age and growth rates.…”

“…Life-cycle characteristics of squids include rapid growth and a relatively short lifespan (Arkhipkin 2004). However, there have been few studies of age and growth using statoliths in squids from the Arabian Sea (Sajikumar et al 2019a(Sajikumar et al , 2020. Furthermore, little is known about the biology, length-weight relationships and growth of mesopelagic squids from the Arabian Sea in general and of A. andamanica in particular.…”

Age and growth of bigfin reef squid, Sepioteuthis lessoniana (Cephalopoda: Loliginidae), in Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, Indian Ocean

“…The DGR increased with age in both sexes, with males having a larger DGR than females, a trait exhibited by loliginid squids (Wang et al ., 2010), except for the genus Loliolus sp. (Sajikumar et al ., 2019). However, the difference in the DGR between male and female S. lessoniana is lesser compared to other loliginid squids, U. edulis and U. singhalensis (Sajikumar, 2021).…”