Identification and Growth of Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) in Bardawil Lagoon, North Sinai, Egypt

Sallam, Nada M.; Husseiny, Walaa A.; Ahmed, Mohamed Salem

doi:10.21608/ajbs.2025.459625

Identification and Growth of Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) in Bardawil Lagoon, North Sinai, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Marine Fisheries Department, Faculty of Aquaculture and Marine Fisheries, Arish University, Egypt

² Animal Wealth Development, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

10.21608/ajbs.2025.459625

Abstract

In this study, a total of 1339 specimens of Sparus aurata were collected over a nine-month period, from May 2022 to January 2023, from Bardawil lagoon. The present study was conducted to identify and describe the morphological characteristics of S. aurata based on the external morphological features such as body shape, color, mouth position and fin arrangement. Also, to study growth pattern of this species collected from. The obtained morphological observations confirmed that the examined specimens were belonging to S. aurata. Its total length ranged from 11.4 to 29.9 cm, while its total weight ranged from 19 to 366 g. The length-weight relationship equation was W=0.0111 L^3.0673(R² = 0.9705). Its age was determined using otolith radius reading technique and the age composition of this species was found to be 5 years. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters were: K=0.32y^-1, L_∞= 30.81 cm, t₀= -1.38y , and W_∞ = 408.86g. The estimated growth performance index (φ) was 2.48.

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