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Age-based Growth Variation of Green-blotched Parrotfish Scarus quoyi in the Southern Philippine Seas

Merlene E. Elumba1*, May Anne E. Mata2, Muhammad Monzer Abpi3, and Cleto L. Nañola, Jr.1

1Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies,
University of the Philippines Mindanao, Davao City 8000 Philippines
2Department of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Sciences,
University of the Philippines Mindanao, Davao City 8000 Philippines
3Davao Doctors Hospital, Davao City 8000 Philippines

 

*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 


ABSTRACT

Age structures of Scarus quoyi populations among three different bays (Davao Gulf, Pujada Bay, and Sarangani Bay) within a spanning distance of ~300 km in the southern Philippine seas were estimated by analyzing sagittal otoliths of 264 individuals. Growth from each study location was fitted using von Bertalanffy growth functions (VBGF) and the derived size-at-age trajectories for the three populations were compared. The 95% confidence interval ellipses around least squares estimate of K and L∞ showed non-overlapping regions, indicating strong differences among the examined populations. The difference in growths among Davao Gulf (K=1.00941), Pujada Bay (K=1.35561), and Sarangani Bay (K=0.98114) populations are statistically significant. The Davao Gulf population achieved larger mean asymptotic size than populations from Pujada Bay and Sarangani Bay. These variations could possibly suggest that growth rate differences are related to monsoon-driven seasonal changes, level of nutrient load and food availability, and habitat structure – including the type of substrate on the reef.

 

INTRODUCTION

Fishes exhibit variation in life history in response to environmental distinction (Atkinson 1994) such as locality and habitat variables (Gust et al. 2002), temperature (Choat and Robertson 2002) and population density (Weatherley 1976), and resource availability (Clifton 1995). Among the most diverse and abundant groups found on coral reefs, parrotfishes are considered both ecologically and commercially important – having the capacity to modify the benthic biota (Bellwood and Choat 1990, Stockwell et al. 2009, Comeros-Raynall et al. 2012) and having strong influence in the structuring of some reef fish assemblages (Taylor et al. 2018). Parrotfishes exhibit dynamic and distinctive life histories. They have high growth variation and display complex sexual ontogenies, as well as inter-specific and conspecific demographic variability (Gust et al. 2002, Taylor et al. 2018). . . . read more

 

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