Age and growth estimates of the sharptail mola, Masturus lanceolatus, in waters of eastern Taiwan

Abstract The sharptail mola, Masturus lanceolatus , is one of the largest teleost fishes in the world, and can be found in warm temperate and tropical regions worldwide. The increase of sharptail mola catch in the eastern Taiwan in recent years stimulated a concern that increasing exploitation of this species might lead to a decline of the stock. However, biological information of this species is very limited. Hence, this study provides the first information on age and growth of this species in the waters off eastern Taiwan based on 265 specimens (105 females and 160 males) collected from January 2003 to November 2006 at the Nanfanao and Hualien fish markets, eastern Taiwan. The relationships between whole weight ( W ) and standard length were expressed as: W  = 9.98 × 10 −4  SL 2.45 ( n  = 105, p W  = 3.33 × 10 −4  SL 2.68 ( n  = 160, p L ∞ ) = 262.5 cm SL, growth coefficient ( k ) = 0.046 yr −1 , age at zero length ( t 0 ) = −3.350 yr ( n  = 80, p L ∞  = 231.0 cm SL, k  = 0.059 yr −1 , t 0  = −1.852 yr ( n  = 135, p