Age and growth, mortality and exploitation ratio of Epinephelus summana (Forsskål, 1775) and Cephalopholis argus (Schneider, 1801) from the Egyptian Red Sea coast, Hurghada fishing area

F. Mehanna, Sahar; A. A. Osman, Yassein; T. Khalil, Magdy; Hassan, Arafa

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2019.52050

Age and growth, mortality and exploitation ratio of Epinephelus summana (Forsskål, 1775) and Cephalopholis argus (Schneider, 1801) from the Egyptian Red Sea coast, Hurghada fishing area

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

10.21608/ejabf.2019.52050

Abstract

The age and growth of two grouper fish species, Epinephelus summana (Forsskål, 1775) and Cephalopholis argus (Schneider, 1801) from the Egyptian Red Sea off Hurghada, were studied based on the otolith readings. The maximum longevity of the two species was 10 and 6 years for E. summana and C. argus respectively. The age group II was the most dominant age group in the catch forming 46.09 % for E. summana and 22.33% for C. argus from the total collected samples. The asymptotic standard length (L∞) and the growth coefficient (K) were estimated as 63.39 cm and 0.13 year-1 for E. summana and 44.22 cm; and 0.26 year-1 and C. argus, respectively. The total mortality was computed as 0.82 and 1.31 year-1 for E. summana and C. argus, respectively. The mean values of natural mortality were 0.33 and 0.56 year-1 for E. summana and C. argus, respectively. Accordingly, the fishing mortality rates were estimated as 0.49 and 0.75 year-1 for E. summana and C. argus, respectively. The exploitation rates of E. summana (0.6) and C. argus (0.57) along with the fishing mortality rates reflect the overexploitation situation of the two serranid species in the Egyptian Red Sea.

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