Age and Growth of the Anglerfish Lophiomus setigerus in the East China Sea

Age and growth of the anglerfish Lophiomus setigerus were examined using vertebral centra from specimens collected in the East China Sea during the period from March 1991 to February 1996. Monthly changes in the frequency of appearance of a translucent band on the outer margin of the centrum and in the marginal increments indicated that ring marks form once a year, primarily from November through December. The body proportional hypothesis method was used to estimate the back-calculated total lengths. Male specimens possessed 1-8 ring marks while females had 1-11 ring marks. Using the back-calculated total lengths, growth of male anglerfish was expressed as TL_t= 379.2(1-e-^{0.193(t-0.300)}) (t≦8) and TL_t = 528.4(1 -e^{-0.140(t-0.264)}) (t ≦11) for females. Our results suggested that females grow faster and live longer than males.