Age and Growth of Octopus, Octopus aegina (Gray, 1849) from Mandapam Coastal Waters (Palk bay), Southeast Coast of India

Ignatius, Boby and Srinivasan, M and Balakrishnan, S (2011) Age and Growth of Octopus, Octopus aegina (Gray, 1849) from Mandapam Coastal Waters (Palk bay), Southeast Coast of India. Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 6. pp. 161-169.

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Abstract

The growth of the cephalopods Octopus aegina was studied on individuals sampled from Mandapam waters (Palk bay), Southeast Coast of India, between October, 2000 and December, 2002. There were no definite relation found between the season and availability of the octopus. During the study period, maximum quantity O. aegina landed during July/August months. The size of O. aegina ranged between 3.3-8.7 cm in mantle length. The dominant size groups of the O. aegina landed by trawlers were 5.5-5.9 cm for both males and females. The mortality rates were estimated as total mortality (Z) = 5.68, natural mortality (M) = 3.02 and fishing mortality (F) = 2.66. The exploitation rate was worked out as 0.47, which was below the maximum exploitable rate of 0.5730, but above 50% exploitable level. This indicated that further addition of units for octopus fishing is advisable since exploitation has not reached the maximum sustainable yield. The observed maximum dorsal mantle length of O. aegina in the commercial catch was 8.7 cm which was 87% of the estimated L8 of 10.0 cm. The curvature parameter (K) was estimated at 1.366

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